Healthcare Built Around a Community

This video highlights the value of community-based healthcare and the impact of receiving care close to home. Patients share their experiences with local providers, emphasizing the importance of trust, relationships, and convenient access to high-quality care. The video exists to show how community healthcare strengthens patient confidence and improves the overall care experience.

  • Local care builds trust: Patients value receiving healthcare from providers who are part of the same community and genuinely care about their well-being.
  • Convenience improves outcomes: Access to nearby care reduces travel, keeps families close, and makes it easier to manage complications or follow-up visits.
  • Strong relationships matter: Smaller facilities allow patients to build lasting relationships with their care teams.
  • Supportive staff enhance experiences: Friendly, professional, and compassionate staff create comfort and confidence throughout the care journey.
  • Community healthcare delivers quality care: Patients report high confidence in the competence and professionalism of local healthcare teams.

Frequently Asked Questions

Community healthcare is medical care delivered locally by providers who serve and live within the same community as their patients. It focuses on accessible, relationship-driven care that keeps patients close to family, reduces travel, and builds trust between patients and providers.

Patients often choose community healthcare because it offers convenience, familiarity, and strong relationships with care teams. Receiving care locally makes it easier to manage appointments, follow-ups, and emergencies while staying close to family and support systems.

Community healthcare offers more personalized care and stronger patient-provider relationships, while larger hospitals may provide more specialized or complex services. Many patients prefer local care for routine procedures and treatments, while still having the option to travel for highly specialized care if needed.

The main benefits include reduced travel, easier recovery, stronger family support, and quicker access to follow-up care. Patients also report feeling more comfortable and confident when treated by familiar, community-based providers.

Yes, many community hospitals provide safe and high-quality care for a wide range of procedures and services. Smaller facilities often deliver excellent outcomes by focusing on patient relationships, experienced staff, and personalized care, while coordinating with larger hospitals when specialized services are needed. 

Video Transcript

Why was a local hospital important to you?

Andrea: I think it's nice that they are local, first of all. I appreciate that. They're people who I can run into on the street and whether or not we know each other, they're still my neighbors. They're people that I would greet and that would be friendly. Brookings as a whole is a friendly, amazing place. And so I know that the people who are there are the same kind of people. They went into health care for a reason, you know, they're people who care about what happens to you as a person.

Why did you choose Brookings Health System for kidney stone removal?

Andrew: I prefer to have as much done locally as I can. I mean, I've had surgeries in Rochester and Sioux Falls, and you know, this minor one in Brookings. But it's, you know, close to family. You don't have to worry about traveling back and forth if there's any complications or any problems at all with that. So I just live down the street on 3rd Street so it's like it's my neighborhood. And the people here are really nice and they're competent and they know what they're doing. And that, you know, it gives you the assurance, you know, that when you go in for a procedure that you feel comfortable with the people that you know, and that you have confidence in their ability to do it.

What support did the staff provide?

Rae Jean: Everything that they did was positive and very enthusiastic. And I guess I just love people that have that kind of energy. And they were kind. Kindness really pays off and I think they have the support of each other up there because the second time I had it done I had a different nurse and she was just as good as the first. I had different nurses in the recovery room or in the surgery room as well. I remember every one of them. They were all so good.

What do you remember about the ambulance ride?

Mark: They are very professional and friendly, you know, that's the thing that I have to say about everybody along the way is, you know, again, and having experienced a lot of hospitals and medical staff and stuff like that, I was really impressed by how friendly and actually genuinely willing and wanting to help and take care of you and stuff. I really felt that along the way, all the way. And the ambulance drivers were just great, you know, and I'm not, you know, the easiest to get in and out of things and stuff and they really did a great job.

Would you recommend Brookings Health System?

Kelly: Definitely, I would recommend Brookings. Like I said, it's a smaller facility. People may think that maybe it's not as good because it's smaller but I think the smaller facility is much better because you're going to know them, they're going to know you. If you've had multiple children here, they're going to remember you and you build a relationship with your care team and that's important. No matter if you're having a baby or you're having a heart attack or anything, just the comfort of walking in and seeing people you know, and knowing that they know what they're doing is priceless.

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