Opinion

UNC Health Pardee exemplifies community service

Tammy Albrecht

By Tammy Albrecht, Published: May 15, 2024

Often, it’s the outdoor opportunities, the variety of unique and high-quality local food and beverage options and our charming small towns that draw folks, from young families to retirees, to visit Henderson County.

For many, those visits turn into a return trip to tour homes, investigate schools, or conduct a job search in hopes of relocating to their new “home.” But what really ensures that not only the family or retiree — but the new business or industry — will relocate here, is our incredibly valuable hospital and access to quality healthcare found within our community. It cannot be overstated that we are fortunate to have a hospital and healthcare system of the size and caliber of UNC Health Pardee in our community.

Rural communities losing hospitals

 According to a report released by the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in July 2023, nearly 10% of rural counties in the South are losing hospitals. The article points to “worsening economic inequality, greater reliance on Medicaid and Medicare payments, and the precarious finances that result” as part of the reason. They note that in the southern United States, “approximately 10% of rural counties lost one or more hospitals to a closure between 2007 and 2018.” In August of last year, Martin County in Northeastern North Carolina lost its hospital, making it the 11th hospital in NC that was forced to shut down or drastically change service in 2023. It doesn’t take a researcher to tell you what can happen when a hospital closes, but I’ll share a few points, nonetheless.

“Rural hospital closures and the resulting increase in travel time to hospitals negatively impact health service use in rural areas, such as longer ambulance trips, more preventable hospitalizations and increased mortality due to less timely responses to emergent health conditions like heart attacks and injuries.”

Ensuring access to health care

 With a 222-bed hospital, a team of 1,885 employees, nearly 600 providers representing 59 specialties, a comprehensive cancer center, and four urgent care centers, UNC Health Pardee delivers life-saving interventions every day to the residents of Henderson County and beyond — many of whom live in rural areas without immediate access to healthcare. The addition of our STEMI certification and cath lab in recent years has helped decrease the time it takes for a person to receive life-saving heart attack care and increased the number of patients utilizing that service. In the first year of being able to provide 24-hour, seven-day-a-week heart attack care, Pardee saw 79 patients. And that number continues to grow.

In our rapidly changing healthcare landscape in Western North Carolina, Pardee continues to move the needle forward in providing early access to innovative and quality care. Our decision less than two years ago to move our primary care practices — known as Pardee BlueMD — into a subrecipient Federally Qualified Health Center designation with Blue Ridge Health ensures all patients have access to a primary care provider, regardless of their ability to pay. Less than six months ago, we were the first in western North Carolina and the entire UNC Health system to administer the first dose of Lecanemab, a newly approved FDA medication for treating Alzheimer’s disease. Lecanemab is the first drug to have shown benefit in slowing down the progression of Alzheimer’s.

More than 80% of the region’s counties are designated as rural, and roughly 33% of us will be 65 or older by 2038.  It is paramount that Pardee continues to lead and work to ensure quality care in areas that need services and to those who have been historically underserved.

Anchor in the community

Hospitals like Pardee are anchor institutions in local communities and a vital piece of the overall healthcare system. Through the ongoing support of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, Pardee can expand care access to patients who might otherwise need to travel great distances or face other barriers to care. Through collaborations with Blue Ridge Community College, Pardee is engaging thoughtfully and meaningfully to ensure we are addressing the workforce needs of our region, which will ultimately serve the healthcare needs as well.

Our community and its demographics are changing. County lines no longer represent a division within a health system. Today and in the future, Pardee will continue to respond to the changing needs of our community by strategically adding facilities when and where they are most needed — delivering value for the greater community.

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Chair of the UNC Health Pardee Board of Directors, Tammy Albrecht submitted this column in honor of National Hospital Week.