Columbia River Community Health Services Wins National Health Service Corps Award of Excellence

Less than two years ago, Columbia River Community Health Services nearly closed its doors.  At that time, it was a private practice — one of only two primary care providers in the sparsely populated frontier country of north Morrow County in Oregon — operating under the name of Boardman Health Care Center.  When its physician, Dr. Robert Boss, was ready to retire, a collaborative workgroup sought and received grant monies to continue operations, ensuring the needs of the community would be met.  The transformation to a non-profit organization would bring on many changes…office hours would be extended, mental and dental health services would be added, OB/GYN services would be expanded, staff would be added and the name would be changed to Columbia River Community Health Services.

With 8,000 patient encounters annually, CRCH sees the majority of the 11,000 residents in the area.  The clinic also serves a large Latino population.  To assist the center in serving its Latino patient base, CRCH hired a Promotora, or outreach worker, to help with health education efforts, disease management, patient relations and translations.  Her assimilation into the community gives CRCH a pulse on how the clinic can better serve the Latino population.

Last year, CRCH participated in a project with Medicare to improve lipid testing for Latino patients with diabetes.  Working with seven other clinics in the rural areas of Oregon, CRCH contributed substantial information about the patient population and an understanding of the issues to the project.  The consortium used this information to develop the educational materials now in use, and CRCH gleaned information from the project that assists in patient care.

Preventive care and health education plays a large role at the clinic.  Educational and self-care materials are combined with classes, screenings and immunizations.  From the smallest patients who undergo well-child exams to adult preventive care, CRCH takes steps to encourage patients to engage in healthy behaviors to lengthen their lives and improve their quality of life.

Dr. Robert J. Boss, CRCH Chief Medical Officer, said, “We have started a disparity program for diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, asthma and high-risk pregnancy…Our goal is to standardize the level of care in all of these areas, and we have established an audit team to monitor and evaluate our level of care.”

Dr. Boss continued, “It’s good news to hear good things like winning the National Health Service Corps Award of Excellence, but the far bigger accomplishment is that we’ve got the grant and the clinic to provide some stability for medical care for several years to come.”

Learn about other NHSC success stories.