Annual Report

This past year, the Baker Springs Department of Health focused on addressing community health in a way that addressed its diverse health needs, spanning across clinical, maternal, and mental health. 

The Health Department made strides in bringing citizens and providers closer together and fostering greater understanding of health and patient needs through directly providing data and education to providers. 

This year, the Health Department will continue working towards this goal. Below, the Health Department outlines this year’s annual successes as well as goals moving into the future. 

Annual Successes 

This year, the City of Baker Springs Health Department…

• Distributed health data compiled by the Health Department to nearly 150 health care organizations located in the city
• Launched 3 free online health certifications through the Health Department, completed by 140 community members this year alone
• Drafted new guidelines for provider treatment of substance abuse, distributed to and used by 60 different clinics, hospitals, and mental health providers
• Conducted over 46,000 communicable disease tests and referred patients to providers to receive medical care
• Administered more than 90,000 vaccines to members of the community. 

Annual Goals 

The Health Department has selected several specific annual goals going into next year. Firstly, the Health Department will target substance abuse in the local area through:

• Drafting substance abuse disorder guidelines for local providers
• Reduce institutional stigma towards substance abuse
• Routing higher levels of funding to mental health facilities 

Secondly, the Health Department will focus on community members’ physical access to hospitals. Currently, over one-third of the population of Baker Springs lives 9 miles – approximately 16 minutes – away from the nearest hospital. Additionally, another 12.5% of the population lives 15 miles – or nearly 20 minutes – away from the nearest hospital. In a medical emergency, these additional minutes of travel time put an alarming portion of the city population at a severe disadvantage in comparison to the rest of the population. The Health Department is focused on bridging this gap going into next year.