By Hazel Tull-Leach

Everyone continues to feel the economic pinch. For large organizations such as UNM Hospitals, the “pinch” can pose a real challenge. Reductions in state funding often translate to fewer resources for treating some of the most vulnerable residents – children and seniors. For UNM Hospitals, less care just isn’t an option.

One of the ways UNM Hospitals works to fortify its funding is to rely on the community for philanthropic gifts and financial contributions. For our state’s aging population, special services are also at the forefront of the hospitals’ plan of care. It is anticipated that by the year 2030, one in every four New Mexicans will be over the age of 65. And by 2025, the population of those 80 and older will increase by almost 100 percent. To serve this population, University of New Mexico Health Science Center has the most comprehensive Senior Care-primary care practice in the state.
The Senior Health Center includes fellowship-trained and Board-certified geriatricians (physicians with extra training specific to the needs of people over 65), as well as specially trained nurse practitioners, physician assistants, case managers and social workers. Some specialty care, including podiatry and cardiology, is also available at the clinic.

The clinic is designed as a medical home, which means physician, nursing, pharmacy and other professional medical services are available all in one location, helping the patient and his or her family to get the convenience of one-stop healthcare.

A new dimension of senior care is opening up through the UNMH-based telehealth programs, which are partnering statewide with physicians. Through the telehealth program, healthcare professionals across New Mexico get the benefit of receiving medical service from the state’s teaching providers at UNMH.

Without donors, UNM Children’s Hospital wouldn’t be able to offer some of the state’s most comprehensive children’s medical services to the more than 52,000 children it treats every year.
Services include a 24/7 pediatric emergency room, where sick or injured children can be seen by doctors who specialize in the intricacies of pediatric emergency care. They also include Carrie Tingley Hospital, which is one of twenty hospitals in the country that treats musculoskeletal and orthopaedic illnesses in children. The rehabilitation services for children with auto accident injuries and head traumas are awe-inspiring.

The biggest reason to give to the UNM Health Foundation is that the money raised serves the entire state. UNM has the only Level-One Trauma facility in New Mexico. When people are really ill or badly injured, UNM Hospital is where they land.

Donations to the hospitals directly fund lifesaving medical equipment and programs that help children continue to develop physically and mentally while hospitalized.

To find out more about UNMH, UNMCH, to get involved or to give, please contact Hazel Tull-Leach at 505.277.5689 or via e-mail mailto:hazelnut@salud.unm.edu hazelnut@salud.unm.edu.