2 Central Peninsula Hospital Shaun Keef, CEO Central Peninsula Hospital A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO Listening to the needs of the community Photo by Doug Boehme In the February 2023 edition of Pulse, the results of Central Peninsula Hospital’s Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) were reported. These results indicated that the community’s top-ranking challenges were mental health/substance abuse, lifestyle issues (nutrition, obesity, diabetes and tobacco use), injury/violence, heart disease/stroke, access to health care, disability/chronic pain and cancer care. In the first year since these results were reported, Central Peninsula Hospital (CPH) has worked diligently to address these needs. Challenges concerning mental health, substance abuse, diabetes, stroke care, chronic pain and cancer care have all been focus points, resulting in our opening a mental wellness clinic, increased bed capacity at the detox center, development of a diabetes clinic, participation in the RAPID Alaska Stroke Care Initiative, addition of two interventional pain physicians and addition of two hematologists/oncologists. All these initiatives were a direct result of our listening to the needs of the community. With all these accomplishments over the past year, an even more impactful focus has been placed on the future increase in access to primary care. The need for primary care providers to include internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics has been a primary focus during the last 12 months. A great deal of recruiting has taken place, which has provided for the hiring of three internal medicine physicians: Lori Arney, DO; Erik Berger, MD; and Max Pillsbury, MD. Dr. Arney started at Central Peninsula Internal Medicine Clinic in January, while Dr. Berger and Dr. Pillsbury will start in June and September, respectively. CPH has also been able to recruit James Bauman, DO, in family medicine and Michael Visick, MD, in pediatrics. Dr. Bauman will be joining Central Peninsula Family Practice and Pediatrics Clinic in Soldotna in September, while Dr. Visick started at the Kenai clinic in January. In addition to these great additions, CPH currently has four other family medicine candidates with offers to join the team. In summary, CPH has placed a great deal of effort acting on the needs of our community in the past year. Further emphasis will take place this year to address the top-ranking perceived challenges from the CHNA as we continue to keep our community healthy.
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