Community members from the area gathered at the Broken Bow Public Library on Thursday night for a town hall discussion centered on the area’s needs in healthcare.
The discussion included statistics gathered during a community health needs assessment (CHNA) survey spearheaded by Melham Medical Center in Broken Bow, completed by over 200 individuals. The CHNA, which is required of hospitals such as Melham Medical Center every three years, aims to identify growth since the last assessment in 2022 while also identifying new or ongoing unmet needs.
VVV Consultants from Kansas ran the evening, presenting the findings of the survey while also sparking discussion and organizing talking points into what will be a formal final report. The group has conducted 205 CHNA’s for 88 locations since 2012.
Melham Medical Center’s primary service area was defined to six zip codes according to the hospitals internal records from 2022 to 2024: Broken Bow (23,465 patients), Ansley (2,784 patients), Sargent (2,725), Merna (2,348), Anselmo (1,784), and Arcadia (1,234).
Data presented before discussion took place at each table included social determinants of health, a review of secondary health indicator data, and finally a review of the CHNA survey results from the community.
Vince Vandehaar stressed the importance of being truthful at the beginning of the evening.
“We want everyone to be truthful,” said Vandehaar, “Why do I say that? Why do I say that I want people to be truthful in discussion?” The accepted answer: Because there is no effective change if there isn’t honesty.
Some highlights from the CHNA survey responses included:
Question: How would you rate the “Overall Quality” of healthcare delivery in our community?
– Very good, 10.8%
– Good, 41.3%
– Average, 31.9%
– Poor, 11.7%
– Very Poor, 4.2%
Question: Are there enough providers/staff available at the right times to care for you and our community?
– Yes, 35.4%
– No, 64.6%
Question: In your opinion, what are the root causes of “poor health” in our community? (Top three percentage answers)
– Limited access to mental health, 15.6%
– Lack of health & wellness, 13.9%
– Lack of exercise, 13.2%
The evening closed with everybody placing four green stickers on posters next to what they individually saw as the biggest unmet needs in the area gathered from the evening’s discussion. Sticker totals were as follows:
Mental health, 28
Urgent care/after hours, 19
Childcare (affordable, safe, quality), 19
Lack of housing (affordable, quality), 18
Prescription (access, affordable), 14
Workforce staffing (all industries), 13
Providers (retiring), 13
OBGYN & Prenatal, 10
Oncology services, 5
Wellness & preventative health, 5
Senior health, 5
Transportation, 5
Underinsured/no insurance, 4
Poverty, 3
Suicide, 2
Food insecurity, 2
Substance abuse (treatment), 1
Food for seniors, 1
Pediatric, 1
Dentists taking Medicaid, 0
Melham Medical Center CEO Kyle Kellum said that he was pleased with the accomplishments of the evening and that he is looking forward to the report that is compiled.
A Zoom meeting will take place on the afternoon of August 5 to discuss strategies to address the list of unmet needs from Thursday night’s town hall.
