History
Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital
|
Auburn Faith Hospital was founded in 1966 by ten local physicians who invested their own funds to create Auburn's first broad-based community hospital. Ownership of the hospital eventually transferred to the community, and the hospital became Auburn Faith Community Hospital governed by a local volunteer board of trustees. In 1989 the hospital affiliated with what is now Sutter Health, the second largest nonprofit health care system in Northern California. In 1995, the hospital formally adopted a new name - Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital (SAFH) - to reflect its affiliation with Sutter Health and the family of physicians and other affiliated services. In May, 1996, the local board of trustees was dissolved to create a single governing board for the Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region (Sacramento, Yolo, Placer & El Dorado counties), and a Placer Community Advisory Board was established to provide SAFH and Sutter Roseville Medical Center with a vehicle for soliciting local input and responding to the specific needs of Placer County communities.
Today Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital serves a growing population of approximately 50,000 (in Auburn and surrounding foothill communities) with 98 licensed beds and more than 25 medical and surgical specialties.
The Impact of Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital
Some important facts about Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital and its impact on area communities:- Sutter Auburn Faith is the only hospital in its service area (Auburn and surrounding foothill communities).
- SAFH is listed among the most cost efficient hospitals in the greater Sacramento region.
- The hospital is served by a medical staff of 203 physicians, many of whom were among the top of their graduating classes and have relocated from major metropolitan medical centers.
- Sutter Auburn Faith handles more than 44,000 inpatient and outpatient visits per year.
- SAFH consistently receives high patient satisfaction ratings. Ninety-six percent of patients rate their care as excellent or good and would return to Sutter Auburn Faith in the future.
- Sutter Auburn Faith's Emergency Department treats more than 17,500 patients per year, is staffed 24 hours a day, and is linked to the Trauma Center at Roseville Medical Center.
- Sutter Auburn Faith Foundation operates Health Express - a free transportation program that delivers seniors and people with disabilities to their medical appointments.
- Sutter Auburn Faith's Transitional Living Center, a 12-bed unit which provides a bridge between hospital care and home care, includes patient rooms professionally designed to promote a healing environment. The Center has 24-hour per day family visitation, a full schedule of activities (including art, music and pet therapy), an outdoor therapy garden and a group kitchen and dining area.
- Sutter Auburn Faith's Acute Rehabilitation Unit, one of only a few in California located in a rural area, consistently places among the top acute rehab units in terms of quantifiable outcomes and patient satisfaction.
- Sutter Auburn Faith's wellness-oriented Cardiac Rehabilitation Program uses a medical team approach to help heart attack survivors achieve maximum health, fitness and sense of well being. The program includes a weekly monitored exercise program at SAFH, nutrition education and support groups. Intensive cardiac care for Auburn Faith patients is provided via Sutter Roseville Medical Center's Cath Lab and Cardiac Service and Sutter General Hospital's Cardiac Surgical Service.
- Sutter Auburn Faith has a 24-hour per day Outpatient Hospice program (Medicare certified) which uses a team of medical professionals and volunteers to provide in-home and caregiver support, pain mitigation, bereavement support groups (including Children's Bereavement Art Program), and chaplaincy assistance. Services are provided free of charge regardless of insurance coverage or ability to pay.
- The hospital employs more than 700 people, making it the second largest employer in the area. It has an annual payroll in excess of 20 million.
- Over the years, the SAFH Guild, comprised of 120 volunteers, have contributed more than 600,000 hours of volunteer service and $470,000 in program and equipment funding. Many of these men and women provide highly specialized skills and experience, which would not otherwise be affordable. Since 1970 the Guild has provided health care scholarships for staff and residents of this area of $130,000.
The Need for Community Philanthropic Support
Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital is the principal provider of health care for residents of the Auburn and surrounding foothill communities. In order to maintain the levels of excellence in its health care services that the community needs and expects, the Hospital must continue to respond to dramatic changes in the health care marketplace.
The American health care industry is currently undergoing the toughest financial crisis in its history. Medicare, Medi-Cal and many private health care insurers have dramatically changed the basis on which they pay hospitals and medical centers, resulting in an underfunding of operating costs.
Most hospitals have reduced their staffs and adopted many other cost saving measures to cope with shrinking revenues. Almost all hospitals have changed the manner in which they deliver certain types of patient care in order to serve their communities more efficiently and effectively. One example of this is the provision of certain services on an outpatient basis such as outpatient surgery. Another example is the provision of some services outside the hospital such as home care.
One of the most common effects of the recent health care fiscal crisis is a shortage of capital to establish or expand vital hospital services and replace worn out equipment and facilities. Nationwide, more and more community non-for-profit hospitals are depending on philanthropy to help fund these needs.
Indeed, many industry experts observing this phenomenon have predicted that the communities that have access to the best health care in the future will be those that have provided the most philanthropic support to their local hospitals.
The Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital volunteer leadership and management team operate a lean, cost-efficient hospital. Nevertheless, SAFH is not immune to the effects of the changing health care marketplace. Thus, it is important that the community support its hospital by helping to fund some of its important community-based needs.
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
