Impact

Here are some of the realities and challenges we face

Approximately 25% of all adults (ages 18-65) in New Mexico make less than the federal poverty level of $20,000 per year, and nearly 1 in 4 adults in New Mexico (ages 18-65) did not complete high school or equivalency.

These New Mexicans are twice as likely to have poorer overall health status, live shorter lives, and have higher incidences of diabetes and substance abuse.

Pre-COVID-19 pandemic, 22.5% of all New Mexican adults (men and women across all regions) suffered from at least one diagnosed mental health disorder. New data shows these numbers are now much worse.

Across all demographics and regions in New Mexico, 30% of students grades 8-12 report they consume alcohol on a weekly basis.

Housing instability is also a major risk factor for students in 9-12 grade with markedly increased incidence of alcohol and drug use, as well as interpersonal violence.

More than 50% of girls and 30% of boys reported persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. Since 2020, there has been a 300% increase in suicidal ideation for all New Mexico students (ages 10-18).

Health is More Than Healthcare

We have spent the last 15 years focused on clinical healthcare at CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center. This includes expanding from four to more than 25 regional primary and specialty clinics, improving clinical quality so the hospital is now rated as one of the safest hospitals in New Mexico and the only hospital in the state that partners with the Mayo Clinic Network. We have learned that the “health” that happens in hospitals and doctors’ offices is foundational for a community to be vibrant. But that type of health and healthcare is only 20% of what truly makes a person healthy.

What we have discovered is that “health” also happens in homes, schools, and in organizations. Known as the social determinants of health, this is the other 80% of what makes a person healthy. This 80% includes critical behavioral factors including whether we smoke, eat healthy foods, and exercise regularly, as well as important socioeconomic indicators such as our level of educational attainment, employment security, income reliability, and access to dependable social support. And finally, environmental aspects such as whether we live and work in healthy neighborhoods, villages, and cities across our region.

Uniting Communities with Real Solutions

Anchorum Health Foundation supports the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services–Healthy People 2030 Initiative. By embracing the current national research, Anchorum has launched its community strategy around the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) and incorporates these learnings directly into our programs and impact strategy.

That is why Anchorum is dedicated to improving the conditions influencing people’s health throughout New Mexico—and it is why we invest our resources in three strategic areas: prevention, access, and opportunities.

With the announcement of Anchorum’s new strategy to restructure our local ownership in CHRISTUS St. Vincent, we are now ALL IN on the 80% of conditions that influence a person’s health, while still bringing major attention to the 20% that relates to access to healthcare. Our new strategy promises a 100% focus on the future of health in our communities.

Prevention

We seek ways to address prevention of:

  • Addiction
  • Disease
  • Dropouts
  • Unhoused

Access

We strive to provide access to: 

  • Primary Care
  • Specialty Care
  • Behavioral Health
  • Counseling
  • Educational Attainment
  • Career Pathways
  • Affordable Housing

Opportunities

We invest in opportunities for: 

  • Economic Stability
  • Job Training 
  • Healthy Behaviors 
  • Workforce Housing 
  • Family Support
  • Healthy Aging

Reimagining Recovery

CHRISTUS St. Vincent was surging with drug overdoses and addiction crisis for a growing number of patients. We saw firsthand and quickly learned that a hospital is not ideally suited to be the community's detox center. With our partners at the hospital and Santa Fe Recovery, we reimaged the crisis and found a critical solution that resulted in transforming Santa Fe Recovery from a social-only detox model into a joint social and medical detox facility. The new Santa Fe Recovery was born and now serves 30 patients for weeks and months at a time to ensure they can succeed on their journey of sobriety.

This new model gets patients in the right place at the right time and provides the right type of care. 

This seamless hand-off from CHRISTUS’s Emergency Room to Santa Fe Recovery created access to 24/7 care for patients and families experiencing this type of crisis. In addition to our thought leadership, Anchorum provided multi-year grants totaling $500,000 to Santa Fe Recovery to transform its nonprofit business model to become the joint social and medical detox center for our region. 

$137000+

in reward funds has been issued to participating employees