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Description

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Welcome to San Juan Regional Medical Center
San Juan Regional Medical Center is a 250licensedbed community hospital that serves the Four Corners region Our hospital seeks to meet the healthcare needs of the whole community through a very broad range of medical surgical and rehabilitation services including several offsite facilities that bring convenient primary care specialty care diagnostic services and rehabilitation closer to our patients As a tobaccofree campus tobacco use by patients visitors staff and others is not permitted anywhere on the property SJRMC has nearly 1700 employees and is designated a Level III Trauma Center and provides air ambulance service with a helicopter and fixedwing aircraft

Our Mission
is to personalize healthcare and create enthusiasm and vitality in healing

Our Vision
is to be known as the most personalized quality healthcare provider

Our Philosophy
Health is the capacity to growphysically emotionally mentally and spiritually Each persons capacity is unique Healing is improving each persons capacity for growth where possible and helping each individual understand and cope when improvement in some aspect is not possible
The healing professions exist to facilitate and guide growth Everyone who works here is a healing professional The quality of our treatmentsthe diagnostics the medicines and the procedures we delivercannot be separated from the essence of the way we treat people The better healing professionals are able to personalize treatments the better they are able to heal To provide the most personal patient experience we must first provide the most personal experience for the healing professional One of the best indicators of our success in achieving our aspirations is the enthusiasm of the people who work here

Core Values
Sacred Trust
Everyone who works at San Juan Regional Medical Centerregardless of our job titlehas entered into a covenant with our patients their families and each other It is the most important rule we live bymore important than any budget policy or 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 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 because 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 connectiona connection between the heart and the head between art and science and 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 tolerancebeyond respectto 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 Even in the most difficult of circumstances we are still called to be empathetic and caring

Thoughtful Anticipation
Excellence doesnt just happen it is the result of reflective anticipation and innovative problem solving Experiencing 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 standardone 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 communitys 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 quotWhyquot before we answer the question quotHowquot Since skills evolve needs change and processes can improve we will constantly reinvent ourselves We are therefore committed to lifelong learning to find innovative and evidencebased approaches to meeting our communitys evolving healthcare needs We value enthusiasm and discipline because its in the balance of these that the most creative solutions are found

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History

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Our History
In the early 1900s the only hospital in the San Juan Basin was Mercy in Durango Colorado 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 the community needed hospital services in San Juan County New Mexico

They purchased a tiny fourroom building in 1910 and opened an eightbed hospital at the location The staff consisted of two nurses each working a 12hour 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 Ky while they assisted in the building of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and school Sisters Antoinette Krampe and Veronica Benedict helped at the hospital while Sister Margaret Mary Barrow was the teacher for Sacred Heart school

By 1920 demand for the modest hospitals 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 the 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 the hospital kept its doors open For instance the hospital operated a farm and dairy to supply eggs chickens milk and butter to the patients The hospital also sold dairy products to the community A gallon pail of milk could be purchased for 10cent 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 eight 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 12000 mortgage backed by a handful of civicminded businessmen By the end of the period the people of Farmington were raising money for a new modern hospital

quotTheir 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 100000from a community of fewer than 3000 peoplequot The Daily Times April 29 2001

In the early 1950s events converged that changed the course of history in the Four Corners and at San Juan Community 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 Countys population shot up from 3500 to over 12000 in just two years The long planned for and badly needed new 44bed hospital was completed on July 1 1952 and dedicated on Sept 28 1952 The modern structure replaced the aging 16bed hospital The new facility was built at a total cost of about 500000 from a combination of funds from a county bond issue federal funds and privatelyraised donations The San Juan County Hospital Association deeded the land and building to San Juan County and San Juan Hospital Inc was formed on Aug 29 1952 The newlyformed hospital corporation leased the land and building back from San Juan County on a 99year lease at 1 per year

quotSo the midcentury 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 rollaway beds in the hallquot Farmington Daily Times Sept 27 1952

Charles Martin the new hospital administrator who came from Denver Colo just weeks before the new hospital opened was instrumental to 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 the hospital Auxiliary a volunteer group that still plays a big role today The Auxiliary was started in 1952 For more than 30 years the organization ran the largest social event of the year in Farmingtonthe annual Charity Ball which raised money for new 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 In1960 the hospital received its first accreditation by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals

In 1972 a 21bed 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 the planning began In 1977 the name of the hospital was changed to San Juan Regional Medical Center SJRMC 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 68 million bond issue for construction of a new modern fivestory 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 SJRMC In addition to the new building new services and new equipment were added Here are a few notable additions to the hospitals capacity during this time period

1981 Full body CAT scanner becomes operational on March 21

1984 San Juan Medical Foundation was established to finance a new cancer center

1986 A new air ambulance service was created by leasing a fixedwing 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 nonemergency extendedhours care

1992 Helicopter services begin as SJRMCs 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 that allowed cardiologists to diagnose coronary artery disease in the facility rather than referring patients to outoftown facilities

1999 SJRMC 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

SJRMC will reach its 100th anniversary in 2010 and its 60th anniversary as a corporation in 2012 The great tradition of healing that started with Drs AM Smith and GW Sammons and has been carried to the present day by countless healthcare heroes who will find fresh expression and renewed commitment in every generation