Community Health Needs Assessment Tazewell County is located in southwest Virginia and borders West Virginia to its north. Since it contains portions of the Ridge and Valley Appalachians, and the Cumberland Plateau, Tazewell County has very distinct and beautiful geologic areas. Historically, what is now Tazewell County was a hunting ground for the Cherokee and Shawnee tribes. The area's abundance of wild game was a source of frequent skirmishes among these tribes. Tazewell County was created on December 20, 1799. The land for the county was taken from portions of the bordering Virginia counties of Wythe and Russell. Today, it is a rural area with about 87 people per square mile (less than half the population density of Virginia overall). CTCH is a not-for-profit, 56-bed hospital owned by Carilion Clinic. CTCH is located in the Town of Tazewell in Tazewell County, Virginia and offers a full-service medical facility with imaging, therapy services, surgery, with a special emphasis on outpatient surgery, and a physician clinic within the facility. CTCH utilizes a unique model of care, with emergency/hospitalist physicians caring for patients across the continuum of emergency and inpatient care. Carilion Clinic is a not-for-profit health care organization serving nearly one million people in Virginia through a physician specialty group, advanced primary care practices, hospitals and outpatient centers. Led by clinical teams with a shared philosophy that puts the patient first, Carilion is committed to improving the community’s health while advancing the quality of care through medical education and research. Carilion Clinic is based in Roanoke, Virginia. After providing management to Tazewell Community Hospital for 27 years, Carilion Clinic purchased the Tazewell-based hospital, now Carilion Tazewell Community Hospital (CTCH), in 2008. As a not-for-profit hospital, CTCH has conducted an in-depth assessment, and plans to repeat the process every three years to identify and track the specific needs of the community it serves. This process enables the subsequent development of appropriate solutions to those needs. The project has fostered focused work with area safety net providers and key stakeholders, and will ensure that resources are focused on highest-priority areas. This work is of critical importance in creating solutions to improving health, and reducing disparities of the underserved in the Tazewell area. The project examined the health of members of the community in the aggregate, from the various perspectives of stakeholders/providers that work in current systems of care, objective outcomes measures, community members, and at-risk populations. The goals of the project were:
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