Chris Christensen | The Evolution of Healthcare Services in the Coachella Valley: Insights from Desert Healthcare District

Show Announcer: 00:00:01

The Desert Healthcare District and Foundation presents a podcast that supports your health and wellness where you live. This is Healthy Desert Healthy youy, hosted by Will Dean. Now here's Will.

Will Dean, Host: 00:00:17

Hello, friends. I am excited because I am here today with the CEO of the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation, Chris Christensen. Welcome, Chris.

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:00:26

Thank you. Glad to be here.

Will Dean, Host: 00:00:28

One of the reasons why I wanted to have you on, other than you being the big boss, is that I wanted to talk a little bit about the Healthcare District and Foundation because as I've been out in the community, I realized that we have a lot of support and we have a lot of people who know who we are, but there are a lot of people who don't know the district and what the district does and what the foundation does. Could you talk a little bit about our history and what we do?

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:00:55

hcare District was founded in: 1948

It was defined as a hospital to help serve the community during the wartime or post wartime. And so hospital was developed at that point initially and has grown over the years.

And the district in: 1997

And so we have continued at that point with our district funds and doing a very robust grant funding program.

ation that was established in: 1967

In: 2018

Now the expansion takes us to beyond Cook street, all the way out to the Salton Sea thermal Mecca areas. And in addition to that, we added two additional directors to our board.

And so we now have seven elected board members that serve for the healthcare district. And their constituents typically are around 60,000 residents in each of the districts or zones that they represent.

Will Dean, Host: 00:02:50

All right, so that's a really good summary of our history. I want to emphasize the point, we are not a hospital. We do not run a hospital. Right?

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:03:01

That's correct. That's correct. No, that's a key point, Will.

So, and that is an extremely important point because a lot of people do misinterpret that or misunderstand that the Desert Healthcare District is not Desert Regional Medical Center.

And so the lease establishes that Tennant Health Systems, who operates the hospital, they're strictly the Operators and desert healthcare district is a funder in the community to help support healthcare. So there's that key distinction there that we do not operate the hospital. And that's kind of the misperception there.

Will Dean, Host: 00:03:46

You mentioned that we are a funder in the community. I'm very proud of the district. We have actually awarded more than $100 million since the whole grant making part of the district began.

So that's pretty exciting.

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:04:03

y, yes. And that goes back to: 1997

Over $100 million of grant funding in that period. We are very proud of that.

Will Dean, Host: 00:04:23

I want to talk about some of the achievements that the district has made during that time. We've done some pretty remarkable things, if I do say so myself.

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:04:32

Absolutely. Absolutely, we have.

So, you know, some of the items that we can talk about or that we think about has to do with going back to the Clinton era initiative to provide insurance coverage to our residents. I mean, there were many residents that did not have insurance.

And so there was a covered California enrollment process that we were very actively involved with to be able to get residents medically insured. Then another big one was in 20 when we experienced, unfortunately, our COVID 19 pandemic.

And the response that the healthcare district was involved with that we worked with the county and riverside university health systems and public health Institute to provide funding resources in our community.

And so we put together a collaborative of several nonprofit organizations that have worked together to initially provide education to the community as well as testing. And we've had many testing events early on in that cycle.

And then once the vaccination came available, then we've hosted many, many events to be able to vaccinate our residents and to help provide protection to our our workers and our community.

Will Dean, Host: 00:06:06

So many of these things are. Or all of these things are really about advancing health and wellness.

And I want to share with our listeners that the district's mission is to optimize health at all stages of life for all district residents. That means all residents of the Coachella Valley.

Something recently that we've started a program that's about advancing access to healthcare is our mobile clinics. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:06:32

Absolutely.

Another item that we're very proud of, of project that was started about three years ago and we initially started with one mobile medical unit and it's been operated by desert physicians medical Group. And we've since added a second clinic that also provides access to care in Our communities.

So the first unit typically provides on site kinds of exams or appointments for people that are unable to seek transportation or have limitations to getting to a clinic or a service provider. And so we're able to take those clinics directly to the locations where these people exist and provide healthcare services to them.

Even with our second unit, we have the ability to issue prescription medications and provide those medications to them right at that time. And we also provide mental health type services with telehealth or in person visits.

And during that process, we also try to establish a medical home for those residents so that they do have a place to continue their healthcare needs.

Will Dean, Host: 00:07:57

And that's primarily through referrals. They're actually referred to a brick and mortar clinic or hospital.

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:08:04

That is correct.

Will Dean, Host: 00:08:05

And what I like to say about the mobile medical clinics is that we are bringing care services to where you live, work or play. I've been out there, I've seen the mobile clinics in the farm fields of the eastern valley, in church parking lots, in school parking lots.

It's really an incredible thing to see.

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:08:23

Yeah.

And to that point as well, you know, we're doing at this point, quarterly and sometimes more frequently, some health affairs and health locations that are specific to, say, women's health as well, with regard to being.

We have a mobile unit that works with us that provides mammograms to the women in our community to help identify if there's cancer concerns, et cetera.

So, you know, there's partnerships that we have established with these medical units as well, with DAP Health and Borrego Health with their mobile units. And we anticipate that we will develop more of that along the way.

Will Dean, Host: 00:09:08

That's really important. I want to talk about something that I know you're excited about, and I'm excited about the environmental health work that we're doing.

We started with a summit in: 2024

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:09:25

No.

It was our inaugural environmental health Summit that engaged with community partners with different organizations and the community in general, where we held information sessions that experts spoke at. And we had different topics, all related to environmental health, typically air and water quality.

illary that we experienced in: 2023

And so it was important to our board of directors and staff to be able to address the environmental health issues that we have in our community because it's so overwhelming. And we did have over 300 people attend that first summit.

th of: 2025

th,: 2025

And you can also go to Healthy Desert healthy you.com Again, that's HealthyDesertHealthyu.com I.

Will Dean, Host: 00:11:06

we know so far In November of: 2024

If you want to talk about Measure AA and what that means for the Healthcare district.

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:11:21

Absolutely.

ase that currently expires in: 2027

We held over 11 public meetings to gain feedback and communication from our community residents. And ultimately that resulted in a lease purchase agreement that was negotiated and accepted by both sides.

And as a public agency, we're required to put that on an election ballot to allow the residents of the district to vote either yay or nay for that initiative. And so that passed resoundingly with a positive vote of 72%.

And so we're excited about that in the sense that we receive several hundred million dollars over the the next 30 plus years and that will help continue the support of the health and wellness programs and access to care that the Healthcare District provides.

Will Dean, Host: 00:12:48

Right. That's going to fund the mission that I mentioned earlier.

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:12:52

Absolutely.

Will Dean, Host: 00:12:52

Our mission. I want to say. Please remember to subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

I am Will Dean, your host, Director of Communications and Marketing for the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation. Again, I want to thank our CEO Chris Krishnasen for being on. Chris, thank you.

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:13:12

You're welcome. Thank you.

Will Dean, Host: 00:13:14

And of course you can come back anytime.

Chris Christensen, Guest: 00:13:16

All right, I'll be here.

Show Announcer: 00:13:18

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Healthy Desert Healthy youy. This podcast is a production of the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation in Palm Springs, California.

For more information, please visit the website dhcd.org Our annual conference site is Healthy Desert Healthy you.com this podcast is available at most major podcast portals, including Amazon Music, Apple podcasts, Audible, Captivate FM, Spotify and YouTube Music. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe.