Community Benefit Programs
Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa is dedicated to improving the health and well being of our communities. Tracing our roots back more than a century in Sonoma County, we boast a rich heritage of caring for the people of our communities, particularly those who are socio-economically disadvantaged and have limited access to health care services. With a strong culture of community outreach, the former Community Hospital of Sonoma County was a perfect match for the not-for-profit health care network, Sutter Health, when, in 1996, the county was seeking a partner to preserve the community-based medical center. Since then, Sutter Medical Center has continued the legacy of caring for the under-served.
One of the ways we demonstrate a commitment to our mission is through community benefit programs. Each year, Sutter Medical Center contributes millions of dollars in free programs and services which includes charity care and the unreimbursed costs of public programs like Medi-Cal.
Sonoma County is fortunate to have health care providers and organizations that recognize the value of working together. By collaborating, we are able to maximize limited resources, minimize duplication, and leverage corporate and foundation dollars to help support and develop vital community services and programs that might not happen otherwise.
A wonderful example of the benefit of collaboration is the Healthcare Workforce Development Roundtable. Dubbed "Grow Your Own", this dynamic, diverse group of hospital, education, workforce development, and community representatives is working together to address two very important issues facing our community: 1) a critical shortage of nursing and other key health care professionals and 2) under-representation of Latinos in health care professions. Funded by a California Endowment grant, the Roundtable has developed a social marketing campaign targeted at Latino youth with culturally appropriate messages designed to raise awareness about the many benefits of pursuing a health care career. Additionally, the Roundtable has developed an inventory of health care training programs and is working to identify and develop economic support resources for people desiring to enter training programs. The Roundtable is committed to filling the health care professional "pipeline" with skilled, ethnically and culturally diverse individuals with a heart to serve the community.
A collaborative community spirit is at the heart of our community benefit planning and programming. Every three years, Sutter Medical Center partners with other local health care organizations to conduct a comprehensive health needs assessment from which community needs and priorities are identified. These priorities drive the community benefit planning so that precious health care resources and dollars are allocated in ways that will be most meaningful to the people we serve. View the most recent Community Health Needs Assessment and corresponding community benefit plan for Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa for additional details.