Community Commitment
Doctors and caregivers at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center live and work in the same community as you. We want to make Southwest Washington a great place for everyone. For over 165 years, we've cared for patients across Clark County — with a focus on whole-person well-being.
PeaceHealth in Clark County
Fiscal Year 2025: July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025
We Reinvest in Community Health
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center is dedicated to caring for the people of Clark County and Southwest Washington. As a nonprofit, we use any extra money to improve community health and support our Mission.
We believe that good health, prevention and community well-being are essential. We work with local partners and make investments to provide our communities with hope, care, home and nourishment. Our four priorities for community health inform our priorities for health improvement and collaboration.
Food
Housing
Care
Hope
Click on an icon above to learn more about each pillar.
Becoming a healthier community means going beyond the walls of our medical center and clinics. Together with partners, we work to improve personal and community health, consistent with our Mission and Values.
Across these pillars is the awareness of our solemn responsibility to those who have been underserved and historically marginalized.
Community Health Needs Assessment
Every three years, tax-exempt hospitals like ours conduct community health needs assessments to identify current needs, statistics, activities and plans to improve the community's health and well-being.
Why conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment?
Our Community Health Needs Assessments guide our investments. Conducted every three years in partnership with local communities, these tools help us identify and address community needs and resource gaps. This allows PeaceHealth to maximize our impact and target our investments where they will have the greatest lasting impact.
How are Community Health Needs Assessments conducted?
In the fall of 2024, we conducted an extensive assessment of publicly available data from national, state, and local sources to analyze our community's needs. Community stakeholders from multiple sectors convened to review the data and provide valuable input on the community's collective requirements.
Key Findings from the 2025 Assessment
Our 2025 assessment echoes national trends and shows that local priorities mirror wider challenges. Highlights include:
- Significant need for affordable housing, shelter options and medical respite care for unhoused individuals.
- Access to healthy and culturally-specific foods continues to be an issue for food-insecure households.
- The need for support navigating social service resources for low-income community members persists.
- Expanding mental health and substance abuse treatment, especially as youth mental health worsens.
- Greater resources are needed to address households living in poverty – specifically Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) community members.
- Community members are experiencing social isolation due to decreased levels of community connection, volunteer workforce shortages and other issues.
Community Health Improvement Plans
Our vision at PeaceHealth is that our communities and everyone within them live their best lives. This means targeting efforts to advance health justice, equity, access, care, and community impact. We are committed to strong community-built plans that measure progress and evaluate our impact towards those results.
Meet our leadership team
- Cherelle Montanye, Chief Hospital Executive
- Liz Cattin, Director Community Health
- Tracey Fernandez, Chief Financial Officer
- Pete Mersereau, RN, VP Surgical & Cardiovascular Services
- Karen Santangelo, Chief Philanthropy Officer
- Tanya Shanks-Connors, VP Patient Care Services/Chief Nursing Officer
- Michael Skehan, Chief Operating Officer