Mesa View CEO Gives Report to City Council

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

Mesa View Regional Hospital CEO Kelly Adams gave a report at the Mesquite City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 9, to explain the results of a recent community health needs survey and give an update on progress that has been recently made at the local hospital.

The Community Health Needs Assessment recently was compiled by Dr. John Packham at University of Nevada, Reno. Adams explained that this survey was part of a state-wide initiative – contracted with UNR – to do similar surveys of rural communities throughout the state to determine needs.

“We happened to be selected this year because of relationships with (Dr. Packham), that allowed us to do this comprehensive assessment of our communities,” Adams said.

Adams explained that the survey asked local respondents questions about their experience with healthcare services in their community. He emphasized that local participation in the survey far surpassed expectations.

“Dr. Packham said that when he does these in other communities in Nevada, he typically receives between 175 and 250 responses with 250 being the high water mark,” Adams said. “Our community had 643 respondents. That shows that this community cares about its healthcare.”

The survey had shown that the most commonly cited healthcare needs people face in the community include access to services, inadequate service for seniors and cost of care.

Adams was delighted to see that 73 percent of local respondents rated the health of the community as “Healthy.” A total of 79 percent rated their personal health as either “Very Healthy” or “Healthy.”

When asked what the principal barrier faced in accessing care, 24 percent of respondents said that it was finding a place that takes their insurance. Twenty-three percent cited long wait times and not enough providers.
“Too many of our citizens are driven by the insurance companies and we are working on that,” Adams said.

In reference to the shortage of providers, Adams said that the hospital has recruited a host of providers who will be joining the hospital team within the next year or so.

This year, the hospital will welcome Rae Delaney, Nurse Practitioner and Dr. Dagmar Crosby, MD to the team.

The company is expanding its orthopedic services with another nurse practitioner, Justin Gomez. An additional nurse practitioner, Madeline Richey, will be coming in the field of cardiology. Adams also mentioned providers coming with specialties in gastro-intestinal work, general surgery and more.

In Logandale Quick Care, Mesa View has brought on a new Nurse Practitioner, Jill Blasdell, who is now practicing there along with Physicians Assistant Andy Rose who has served there for many years.

“With all of these successful recruitments, I am out of space,” Adams said. “So at some point, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, I will be bringing some plans about some expansion at the hospital.”

The company has already expanded quick care operations in Mesquite and will soon be formally announcing expansion at the Logandale Quick Care to total a 2,300 sq foot facility there, Adams said.

Adams also talked about a $1.9 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. This was used to install new X-ray/Radiology equipment, state of the art 3D mammography, ultrasound and fluoroscopy. Under separate funding, all the hospital’s lab equipment was updated and put into use allowing lab work to be done locally, Adams said.

“That’s a huge deal for our hospitals to get quicker answers,” Adams said. “Rather than sending labs out, we can get labs within a day or two as opposed to four or five days.”

The report concluded with Adams talking about the hospital’s community involvement. He pointed out that last year the hospital began a program of giving scholarships to outgoing local high school seniors.
“We gave two scholarships from the hospital last year,” Adams said. “We were so impressed with the quality of applications this year that we bumped that number up to seven. We wish we could give more.”