San Juan Regional Medical Center
Farmington, New Mexico
Who We Are
San Juan Regional Medical Center is a modern, acute-care hospital located in one of the most rural areas of the American southwest, the Four Corners. As a sole community provider of hospital services in San Juan County, New Mexico, the hospital delivers a remarkable range of healthcare services not only to the citizens of San Juan County, but to the people of the entire Four Corners area.
In March 2008, the organization was accredited for three years by the Joint Commission and received their Gold Seal of Approval. Also in 2008, SJRMC was selected by Thomson-Reuters as one of America's 100 Top Hospital Performance Improvement leaders.
San Juan Regional Medical Center's mission is to personalize healthcare and create enthusiasm and vitality in healing. The hospital's Core Values are actively taught, and reinforced, to staff, management and physicians so that the organization may achieve excellence and consistency in patient care.
San Juan Regional Medical Center Core Values
Sacred Trust
Everyone who works at San Juan Regional Medical Center – regardless of our job title – has entered into a covenant with our patients, their families and each other. It is the most important rule we live by – more important than any budget, any policy, any protocol. It is simply: do the right thing for the patient no matter what. And, while the cost of following it may sometimes be high in dollars, in effort, or inconvenience, the cost of not following it is always much higher, for it is paid in honor, integrity and meaning. No one here should ever feel unconnected or alone. We rely on each other to follow this covenant, for the power it taps in each of us is the power to be great.
Personal Reverence
We see the process of healing as more than the medicine we administer. Healing embodies a connection – a connection between the heart and the head, between art and science, between the caregiver and the patient. We cannot truly heal without the active involvement and constant support that families and friends impart. At the same time, whether we are a patient, a family member or a healing professional, each of us is unique. This uniqueness is at the core of our Mission, Vision and Philosophy. And, when we make each and every person feel important, understood and included, we will have gone well beyond tolerance, beyond respect, to reverence. We will look for and honor the differences in each person, regardless of their culture, background or disease. Every day we choose to believe the best about each person and we will actively and honestly assist their efforts to improve. Because even in the most difficult of circumstances, we are still called to be empathetic and caring.
Thoughtful Anticipation
Excellence doesn’t just happen: it is the result of reflective anticipation and innovative problem solving. Experience excellence is about knowing everyone we serve, anticipating their needs and building solutions into our processes and relationships with the same energy and creativity we bring to emergencies. We must act ahead and cause discovery, not just recovery, so that anticipation is always an essential part of our approach. We must learn from everything we do and always strive to make it better the next time.
Team Accountability
Quality and teamwork are inseparable. We hold ourselves and each other to a higher standard – one where our actions are consistent with our values and goals. Our accountability is ultimately to our patients and it takes all of our collective talents and skills to be successful. We strive to be stewards of the community’s resources and will constantly promote best practices. For us, accountability is much more than an obligation or an expectation.
Creative Vitality
We must always look at things in new and energetic ways. We will ask the question “Why?”, before we answer the question “How?” Because skills evolve, needs change, and processes can improve, we will constantly reinvent ourselves. We are therefore committed to lifelong learning to find innovative as well as evidence-based approaches to meeting our community’s evolving healthcare needs. We value enthusiasm and discipline, because it’s in the balance of these that the most creative solutions are found.
Our History
In the early 1900s, the only hospital in the San Juan Basin was Mercy in Durango, CO. The first Farmington physicians were G.W. Sammons, who arrived in 1908 and A.M. Smith who relocated from Connecticut in 1910. Together they decided that something needed to be done to provide hospital services in San Juan County, New Mexico.
They purchased a tiny four room building in 1910 and opened an eight bed hospital at the location. The staff consisted of two nurses, each working a twelve hour shift. That building, which stood on the current San Juan Manor site, served the community well for a decade. The hospital also served as lodging for three Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph from Maple Mount, Kentucky while they were here to assist in the building of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and school. Sisters Antoinette Krampe and Veronica Benedict assisted at the hospital, while Sister Margaret Mary Barrow was the teacher for Sacred Heart school.
By 1920, demand for the modest hospital's services exceeded its capacity. Concerned citizens formed the San Juan County Association and raised money to purchase the building and nine acres of land. In 1922, an addition was built which doubled bed capacity to 16. The future of the hospital was firmly in the hands of the community.
From the Great Depression through World War II, the hospital struggled to exist as a community owned enterprise. Individuals in the community made sacrifices to see that hospital not only survived, but continued to provide remarkably good care in an area that was both rural and remote.
Stories abound of the frugal but creative ways that the hospital kept its doors open. For instance, the hospital operated a farm and a dairy to supply eggs, chickens, milk and butter to the patients. They also sold dairy products to the community. A gallon pail of milk could be purchased for 10¢. The nurses spent many after duty hours cleaning and painting with paint donated by local merchants. Church organizations raised money to furnish rooms, farmers would drop off baskets of fruit, board members would make up operating deficits from their own pockets, and several ladies in town with nursing experience would help out when the hospital was short of nurses.
In 1930, there were 222 admissions, 8 births and 27 surgeries. By 1951, those numbers had increased to nearly 1200 admissions, 329 births and 503 surgeries. At the beginning of this formation period, San Juan Community Hospital had 16 beds and a $12,000 mortgage backed by a handful of civic-minded businessmen. By the end of the period, the people of Farmington were raising money for a new, modern hospital.
"Their vision was for a true community hospital capable of keeping pace with area growth and medical innovations. Putting their money where their mission was, they donated the land for a new building and raised the remarkable sum of $100,000 – from a community of fewer than 3,000 people." The Daily Times, April 29, 2001.
In the early 50s, events converged that changed the course of history in the Four Corners and at San Juan Hospital. El Paso Natural Gas Company brought a pipeline to the San Juan Basin to deliver natural gas to California. Consequently, the oil field boomed, and San Juan County's population shot up from 3500 to over 12,000 in just two years. The long planned for and badly needed new 44 bed hospital was completed on July 1, 1952 and dedicated on September 28, 1952. The modern structure replaced the aging 16 bed hospital. The new facility was built at a total cost of about $500,000 with a combination of funds from a county bond issue, federal funds and privately raised donations. The San Juan County Hospital Association deeded the land and building to San Juan County, and San Juan Hospital, Inc. was formed on August 29, 1952. The newly formed hospital corporation leased the land and building back from San Juan County on a 99 year lease at $1 per year.
"So the mid-century hospital with its modern architectural design begins a new era in Farmington. With its room for major operations, one for minor surgery, its labor room, etc. and its modern equipment, many more miracles will be performed. No longer will ambulatory patients sleep in roll-away beds in the hall." Farmington Daily Times, September 27, 1952.
Charles Martin, the new hospital administrator who came from Denver just weeks before the new hospital opened, was instrumental in bringing in more physician specialties and creating programs that still impact the hospital today. One of his more innovative solutions to understaffing was to spearhead a group to start the hospital Auxiliary, a volunteer group that still plays a big role at San Juan Regional Medical Center today. The Auxiliary was started in 1952, and for more than 30 years the organization ran the largest social event of the year in Farmington, the annual Charity Ball, which raised money for hospital equipment.
In 1956, a second floor was added which increased capacity to 107 beds. Extensive renovations were completed through the 1960s as the hospital kept pace with medical advances. For instance, the first Intensive Care Unit was opened in 1963, ten pediatric beds were added to a newly remodeled pediatric unit in 1964, and expanded emergency services were provided. The year 1960 also saw the hospital's first accreditation by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals.
In 1972, a 21 bed surgical ward was built, and a physical therapy wing was added. By 1973, rapid growth in the Four Corners made it clear that a major construction project for the hospital would be required, and planning began. In 1977, the name of the hospital was changed to San Juan Regional Medical Center to better reflect the growing scope of outreach and healthcare provided for the entire Four Corners area. By the start of 1978, one era was ending while a new one was just beginning.
In 1973, voters approved a $6.8 million bond issue for construction of a new, modern 5 story hospital to be built next to the existing hospital building. An additional $3 million was approved in 1976, and in July 1978, the new hospital opened with a bed capacity of 143. Regional healthcare had truly come to the Four Corners as San Juan Hospital reached higher to become San Juan Regional Medical Center. Not only was there a new building, but new services and new equipment were added. Here are a few notable additions to the hospital's capacity during this time period:
1981: Full body CAT scanner becomes operational on March 21.
1984: San Juan Regional Medical Foundation was established to finance a new Cancer Treatment Center.
1986: A new air ambulance service was created by leasing a fixed wing aircraft from Four Corners Aviation.
1987: Over 200 people attended the dedication of the San Juan Regional Cancer Treatment Center. In August, the most advanced nuclear medicine imaging system in the region and the first of its kind in New Mexico was installed.
1988: The MRI facility is opened.
1990: The Immediate Care Center was opened in Farmington to provide non-emergency, extended hours care.
1992: Helicopter services begin as SJRMC's AirCare now serves the Four Corners with a helicopter, designated AirCare 1, and an air ambulance, designated AirCare 2, for emergency services. The Meditech Hospital Information System is acquired in a major step toward greater use of electronic data processing at all levels of hospital service.
1995: In May, a Varian linear accelerator is purchased for the Cancer Center. In November, the new Childbirth Center is opened on the fifth floor. Also during the year, a new outpatient service, the Day Surgery Unit, is opened.
1998: In May, the new cardiac catheterization laboratory is opened, allowing cardiologists to diagnose coronary artery disease here, rather than referring patients to out-of-town facilities.
1999: San Juan Regional Medical Center is designated a level III trauma center, one of only three trauma centers in New Mexico.
The new millennium saw both the Connelly Hospitality House and a greatly expanded Emergency Department come onto the scene.
San Juan Regional Medical Center's story will reach its 100th anniversary of founding in 2010 and its 60th anniversary as a corporation in 2012. The great tradition of healing that started with Drs. A.M. Smith and G.W. Sammons and has been carried to the present day by countless healthcare heroes will find fresh expression and renewed commitment in every generation.
An Overview of Our Services
The hospital itself has a 260 bed capacity. 72 of those beds were added in 2006 in a major addition to the hospital, and 20 were added in 2008 when the fifth floor of the new addition was completed. Almost all beds are in private rooms. All of the rooms in the 2006 expansion, except isolation rooms, have private, fresh-air balconies. The 2006 expansion also replaced the existing operating rooms with eight new state-of-the-art operating suites.
San Juan Regional Medical Center is designated a level 3 trauma center and provides air ambulance service with a helicopter and a fixed wing aircraft. SJRMC seeks to meet the healthcare needs of the whole community through a very broad range of medical, surgical and rehabilitation services. In addition to those services, the hospital also provides a Childbirth Center, a nephrology unit, a pediatric unit, an inpatient behavioral health unit, a day surgery center and extensive imaging and lab testing services.
In 2008, SJRMC upgraded their CT scanner to a new 64 slice CT scanner. Diagnostic imaging services are enhanced with the use of digital image processing—the only hospital in the area to employ this technology.
The hospital operates a number of offsite facilities to provide convenient locations for their patients. The Outpatient Diagnostic Center was opened in 2006 to provide neighborhood diagnostic services such as mammograms and blood testing. The Rehabilitation Outpatient Center, which provides physical, occupational and speech therapies is also the only center in the area to provide pediatric rehabilitation. The Urgent Care Clinic, Bloomfield Health Center and San Juan Regional Internal Medicine and Pulmonology Clinic provide primary physician care, while San Juan Cardiology, Four Corners Neurosurgery, and San Juan Neurodiagnostic Service provide specialty care.
Our Associated Facilities
San Juan Regional Medical Center is associated with San Juan Regional Cancer Center which opened their new cancer center in 2009, San Juan Regional Rehabilitation Hospital (an 18 bed in-patient rehabilitation hospital), Connelly Hospitality House (a low cost housing unit for patients and family here for treatment), San Juan Medical Foundation and the Robert W. Umbach Foundation.
Governance
San Juan Regional Medical Center is a community governed hospital that was founded in 1910 by Drs. A.M. Smith and G.W. Sammons. The Hospital Corporation is an advisory body composed of two representatives from each of 90 non-profit organizations in San Juan County. The Corporation meets quarterly, and at their annual meeting, they nominate and elect 12 voting members of the Hospital Board of Directors. The Corporation receives reports from the Board of Directors and hospital administration on hospital operations and provides feedback on community health issues.
Meeting the Healthcare Needs of the Community
A healthcare needs assessment survey is performed annually. In the constant effort to meet community health needs, San Juan Regional Medical Center seeks to
- improve physician access through a vigorous physician recruiting program
- provide community education and community benefit programs (see below)
- participate voluntarily in reporting data to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) and other organizations so that consumers of healthcare can be better informed.
Non-discriminatory Service
In addition, SJRMC provides quality medical care regardless of race, creed, gender, national origin, disability, age or ability to pay. SJRMC provides charity care and discounts through a community service fund upon application. No person is refused care because of inability to pay. SJRMC provides care to patients covered by Medicare or Medicaid, and is a Medicaid provider for New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. For fiscal year 2007, 57% of patient service revenue was through care provided to Medicare and Medicaid patients.
The Extent of Community Benefit
Community benefit programs are extensive. Free educational programs, support groups, health fairs, flu vaccination clinics, low cost blood screenings, direct donations and scholarships all support the cause of a healthier San Juan County. As one example of this effort, programs on various health topics are broadcast regularly in Navajo on a Navajo speaking radio station to address the need of that underserved community for wellness information.
