Community Benefit
STRENGTHENING OTHERS – OUR WORK WITH COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Aiding Community organizations already reaching out to residents in need is an integral part of fulfilling the St. Mary mission to continually improve the health and quality of people's lives. In the past year, St. Mary has helped organizations that serve key neighborhoods in Victorville, Adelanto and Apple Valley. This assistance comes in the form of manpower, finances and information sharing. St. Mary and its staff have served 15,837 people through other community organizations in the past year. Community partners include Silverado High School in Victorville, the Community Toolbox in Adelanto, the Boys and Girls Club in Adelanto and the Paul Swick Family Center in Apple Valley. One of the ways St. Mary assists the Paul Swick Family Center is through the family center's mentoring program.

"Children need to have positive role models in their lives," says Valerie Smith, director of the Paul Swick Family Center. "We are so appreciative of several St. Mary employees who provide positive modeling by serving each week as mentors with students at Yucca Loma Elementary School."

REACHING THE CORNERS OF THE COMMUNITY – ADELANTO CLINIC
On the other side of Interstate 15, St. Mary staff is busy working in the Adelanto Prenatal Clinic. A counterpart to St. Mary Medical Center's Healthy Beginnings Prenatal Clinic in Apple Valley, the Adelanto clinic gives residents on the west end of the Victor Valley access to services they may not otherwise be able to receive. Because transportation is a big hurdle when health care services are needed, the Adelanto clinic bridges the gap for families who find it difficult to travel outside of their neighborhood.

An important key to healthy communities is healthy children, which starts before they are even born. The Healthy Beginnings program works to provide new mothers with prenatal health care within the first trimester. On top of the mother's health needs, on-staff social service counselors and health workers strive to keep women in the health care program by elevating self-esteem and empowering them with knowledge of self-care, childbirth education and community resources.

Rosa Lopez has been a patient with Healthy Beginnings for seven years. She and her husband have three children and have lived in Adelanto for six years.

Rosa has found the prenatal care very helpful, especially after she learned she had developed gestational diabetes during her recent pregnancy.

Rosa didn't know that diabetes could occur during pregnancy, but she said she was pleasantly surprised when she learned how closely the clinic monitors the mothers with diabetes.

The clinic's staff educated Rosa about the foods she could eat while monitoring her diabetes. She also learned about breastfeeding and what to expect during delivery in the classes, Comenzando Bien.

ON THE MOVE – BRIGHT FUTURES
MOBILE VAN
One of the most direct and effective ways St. Mary Medical Center extends health care services beyond its walls is by sending out its Bright Futures mobile health van right into the neighborhoods that need it the most. In addition to medical care, such as immunizations, physical exams and evaluation of illnesses, the van's staff offers advice and guidance regarding physician referrals, community resources and how to access health insurance products.

An outreach program called Well Woman is also offered from the van as well as from the Healthy Beginnings stationary clinics in Apple Valley and Adelanto. Funded in part by San Bernardino County's Cancer Detection program, staff members work together to meet the needs of low-income, underserved women and to develop coordinated resources for women's breast and cervical care in local communities.