Be the Change

Written by: Top of Virginia Regional Chamber

alley Health has been improving community wellness since the 36-bed Winchester Memorial Hospital opened in 1903. Ground broke in 1986 for the current residency of Winchester Medical Center, whose 100-acre facility now supports two medical office buildings, a diagnostic center, an employee childcare center, Adult Behavioral Health, Valley Regional Enterprises, Surgi-Center of Winchester, and the region’s only Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Valley Health formed as a non-profit organization in 1994 to bring a better quality healthcare to the growing system. In 2012, The North Tower opened to expand their Emergency and Intensive Care capabilities. The Winchester Medical Center campus also boasts a premier wellness and fitness center, whose own growth has made a huge impact on the overall wellness of regional residents and now aims to improve fitness levels for elite athletes with the new Parisi Speed School. The new Warren Memorial Hospital, located in Front Royal, Virginia also includes The Andreae Family Wellness and Recreation Trails for community residents.

Valley Health continues to offer and encourage COVID-19 vaccinations. Facilities have moved to the Apple Blossom Mall, available between LensCrafters and Victoria Secret, on Wednesdays and Saturdays from noon to 7:00 p.m. Pfizer vaccines are available to patients 12 years old and up with Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines available to those over 18 years old. Health officials do expect the variants to reach the region in the fall as well as the impending flu season.

A 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment (which Winchester Medical Center completes ever three years) prioritized six health needs for the primary service area of the six-hospital system, serving a population of more than 500,000 people. In order the assessment noted health needs with regard to: 1. Behavioral and Health Status Factors 2. Access to Primary, Preventative, and Specialty Care 3. Social and Economic Factors 4. Mental Health and Substance Abuse 5. Health Outcomes 6. Maternal and Child Health

“It’s about civic partnerships. I think it’s about health systems, working with universities, other local institutions, governments. We need to work together to get it done. This collaborative model used during the pandemic has to be the model for the future.” - Dr. Jeff Feit

Not all of these needs can be met through a hospital system. Partnerships within the community must exist to allow any impact to be made to any of the health needs. Collaboration is nothing new for the 118-year-old organization. You can see evidence of that with Shenandoah University in their nursing and physical therapy programs or most recently with the mass-vaccination site at the James R. Wilkins, Jr. Athletics & Events Center that administered more than 65,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Valley Health poses a challenge to businesses in the region to jump behind these community needs. Behavioral and Health Status Factors focus on physical activity, obesity, and chronic disease. Businesses and organizations can be a catalyst to get large groups of people moving, exercising, and eating healthy. This builds healthier outcomes for employees, which in turn lowers overhead costs, as well as teamwork, and improved mental health qualities. The partnerships would also need to extend into local parks and recreation departments, schools, faith-based communities, and community groups to expand healthy menu options, positive choices, and increased exercise, especially around youth programs. Community gardens can have a large role in making healthier choices accessible to low-income households.

Accessibility is a major barrier for many of the needs identified. The City of Winchester reported a poverty level of 12.5% in 2017 (Virginia reported a statewide average of 11.2% in the same time period), but an increase to 15% is shown in a recent census update. This limits accessibility to transportation, insurance coverages, primary and specialty care, dental health, and home health. WinTran does support public transportation services to medical facilities over a 12-hour window of operation. Community services such as the Sinclair Health Clinic provide services to high-risk areas where they have had 8,788 patient visits through the past 12 months and filled 10,606 prescriptions. ALICE families, who often live just above the poverty line but still struggle with accessibility to care often find themselves in the gap. That is where businesses can help bring screenings out to the workplace through Valley Health Workplace Wellness (540-536-3040) or implement activities to get employees moving or making healthier food choices. Valley Health Wellness & Fitness Center also offers corporate packages.

remain a top priority to enhance community wellness in the region. Smoking, alcohol, and drug abuse have proven to increase during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. New stressors heighten anxiety levels which can lead to dependency or addiction. To combat the opioid epidemic that is ravaging much of the country, The Northern Shenandoah Valley Substance Abuse Coalition was formed in 2014. In 2014, The City of Winchester, Clarke County and Frederick County, Virginia reported 21 Heroin overdose deaths. In 2020, that number grew to 31 deaths in the same region and ALL localities in their coverage reported an increase in overdose deaths. This is another example where the needs of a community need to be solved through a network of collaboration.

“Community problems need community solutions,” said Dr. Jeff Feit, who was recently recognized for his contributions, along with many others, to the Lord Fairfax Health District in the Circle of Excellence award at the 2021 Greater Good Awards. “This community is a magical size that scales for success, we are large enough to have the resources available to address community needs, yet small enough to be nimble when overcoming barriers that challenge larger cities,” Dr. Feit added. The Princeton University, University of Virginia, and Virginia Commonwealth University graduate and current Valley Health Vice President of Population and Community Health, has had a chance to see how communities of different sizes are able to respond to community needs first hand. The Lord Fairfax Health District pairs well with the footprint of Valley Health’s coverage. This allows the flexibility needed to allow a healthcare system to work with a university to provide service to the entire health district quickly and efficiently, creating a model that the rest of the state and country were learning from. Virginia initially was ranked as one of the worst states with the vaccine rollout until Valley Health and Shenandoah University came together. Virginians from all over the state were coming to Winchester to get vaccinated. Local vaccination rates were nearly twice as high per capita than that of Northern Virginia suburbs.

Dr. Danny Avula, Director of the Richmond City and Henrico County Health Departments, said in a February, 2021 PBS News Hour statement, “If we had the opportunity to do this over again, and we were able to anticipate just how complex the inventory management piece of this would be and the need for more streamlined, centralized, consistent registration, I think we would have started do with that model.” Tracy Fitzsimmons, Ph. D, Shenandoah University President, added “We’re semi-rural. We often have to do things by ourselves,” she said. “We don’t wait and wait and wait for the federal government or the commonwealth to give us all the instructions. We do our best to jump ahead to serve our own folks,” in a February, 2021 NBC Washington news segment.

While a hospital system cannot address every need in a community, such as social and economic factors, Valley Health is committed to continuing to partner with other organizations that may be more ideally suited to be the lead organization in addressing the needs. Valley Health looks to collaborate with organizations such as the school systems, Northwestern Community Services, the Northern Shenandoah Housing Coalition, the United Way of the Northern Shenandoah Valley and of course, the Top of Virginia Regional Chamber to continue to make an impact on our community.