Public Health in PRINCE GEORGE'S County: The Dimensions Healthcare System
What is Dimensions Healthcare System?
Founded in 1982, Dimensions Healthcare System is a not-for-profit organization as well as the largest healthcare provider within the Prince George’s County area. Originally under the leadership of President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Mutch and Chief Financial Officer Noel Cervino, after 14 years DHS finally accepted new management in May of 2005 by Dunlop Ecker. The Dimensions Healthcare System consists of a network of affiliate institutions; including Prince George’s Hospital Center, Laurel Regional Hospital, Bowie Health Campus, and Gladys Spellman Specialty Hospital and Nursing Center. These medical facilities are known to serve more than 200,000 patients each year, many of whom consist of 75% of the underinsured population (90,000 citizens) within Prince George’s County. Dimensions Healthcare System emphasizes the importance of outreach to the community through community education, support groups, and volunteer services.
Dimensions Healthcare Facilities:
1) Prince George's Hospital Center
4) Gladys Spellman Specialty Hospital
Community Outreach:
The Dimensions Healthcare System attempts to uphold its responsibility of maintaining and promoting health throughout Prince George’s County by the use of community education and support groups. Many of these programs are free of charge. It’s important to the organization that community members are able to not only be treated medically, but are also able to recognize how to remain healthy. In terms of educating the community, Prince George’s Hospital Center and Laurel Regional Hospital offer various programs such as monthly meetings for breast feeding, childbirth education, and a stress reduction program with Tai Chi exercises. The Wellness Program at Prince George’s Hospital Center allows community members to help as volunteers for the hospital. It is also responsible for the Morning Star Walking Program at Capital Plaza Mall at which people can learn more about the importance of healthcare. Seminars are offered from different DHS institutions that teach CPR courses, yearly smoke cessations, and methods of exercise for people with arthritis. Laurel Regional Hospital and Bowie Health Campus host community health fairs that hold free health screenings for alcohol, anxiety, depression, etc. in the spring and the fall. Furthermore, Dimensions Healthcare offers a terrific support system for the community in terms of holding support groups for survivors of traumatic brain injuries and their families, for parents of premature newborns, for survivors of sexual assault, and for Alcoholics Anonymous, Bipolar Disorder, and Narcotics Anonymous members.
Dimensions Healthcare System in the Present:
Within the past decades, the Dimensions Healthcare System has aided Prince George’s County immensely through serving the majority of the underprivileged and the uninsured patients within the community. As a consequence of their altruism, the financial stability of Prince George's Hospital Center and other medical facilities has seriously suffered. It appears that Dimensions Healthcare has lost more than $42 million in funds since 1999. Realizing what a strong asset the organization is to the county, County Executive Jack Johnson has exerted great efforts in an attempt to relieve Dimensions from its financial crisis within the last two years. In 2003, Johnson met with Governor Robert Ehrlich Jr. to discuss the cooperation between state and county in order to ensure that the hospital continues to operate. Agreements between Dimensions Healthcare System and the county and state were made in May of 2003 with promises of $2 million from the state and $3 million from the county. In addition to the implementation of new management and the creation of a state and county partnership, Johnson has planned to grant Dimensions a stipend of $30 million over the course of the next five years. The Johnson- Ehrlich contract, officially signed in February of 2004, provides $25 million and an additional $20 million to Dimensions within the next four years and allows the county to continue managing the hospitals locally; given that the state supervises their actions. Furthermore, the governor and the county executive established an eight member oversight committee to closely monitor the operations of DHS and develop a plan for reconstruction. After reviewing the financial situation, the Oversight Committee has revealed many long-term solutions; with the termination of Dimensions Healthcare ranking at the top of their list. Believing Dimensions to have shown poor judgment and leadership abilities, the committee stated that the system's only options were to continue operating the system independently with county ownership, merge the facility with a Maryland-based not-for-profit hospital system, sell all or part of the system, or allow the county to operate the system as public hospitals. No clear solution has been established as of yet; however, Dimensions has recently welcomed a new president, Dunlop Ecker, president and CEO, in hopes of reversing this dilemma. A national hospital system turnaround firm named Cambio Health Solutions Incorporated has also been making major changes on procedures and staff within the healthcare system. Despite their troubles, DHS never fails to evolve as an institute. They are planning to construct a new health campus in Landover, MD complete with a senior center, hotel, and a cancer center. This new facility will hopefully be completed in year 2010.