When North Ottawa Community Hospital (NOCH) leaders envisioned a new emergency department they made a promise to improve health in the Grand Haven, Mich. area. Instead of solely providing reactive health care, where people seek treatment after they’re sick, NOCH wanted to create a community that values and invests in healthy living to prevent illness.
One way NOCH seeks to fulfill that goal is by improving patient education. NOCH conducted research to identify the top five chronic diseases prevalent in the community. Patients will learn about these diseases and their prevention and management through educational events held at the hospital.
NOCH allocated space to support a team of medical, mental health, and social services who will work collaboratively to help patients reduce the number of ER visits they need to make.
Population health will be improved via a paramedic program that will manage the number of follow-up visits to patients with chronic diseases.
Finally, NOCH is dedicated to keeping kids in the community safe. Many pediatric patients do not have primary care physicians, but North Ottawa is now equipped with on-site primary care physicians that can quickly be connected with patients of all ages.
Read more about NOCH’s transformation here.