News

Lillian Montoya hasn't always been about health care, but her career has always been about leadership. This is a woman who uses the word "team" as a verb.

We are excited to announce that The Community Health Funder Alliance has awarded $1.8 million to 44 non-profit organizations throughout northern New Mexico this month. The Community Health Funder Alliance is a funder collaborative dedicated to improving health and wellness in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico.

David A. Gonzales, MD, has been named Chief Medical Officer for CHRISTUS St. Vincent. In this role, Dr. Gonzales will oversee the delivery of care to patients at all CHRISTUS St. Vincent facilities.

In New Mexico, the population most impacted by COVID-19 is the Navajo population. Of New Mexico’s 10,565 COVID cases, 53% are Native American, the greatest majority coming from the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation spans a four state area: north and western New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah.

CHRISTUS St. Vincent has converted a $1 million loan into a grant to Homewise to support high impact and much-needed affordable housing and community development initiatives in Northern New Mexico. In light of current circumstances, CHRISTUS St. Vincent converted the loan to a grant to help Homewise maximize its efforts to address this important community need.

In cooperation with a national program led by Mayo Clinic, CHRISTUS St. Vincent is now employing convalescent plasma therapy in the treatment of COVID-19.

Antibodies are proteins that help fight off infections. COVID-19 antibody tests check your blood by looking for COVID-19 antibodies, which show if you had a previous infection with the virus.

Though strict visitor restrictions are now in place at CHRISTUS St. Vincent, the hospital hasn’t let that get in the way of patients connecting with friends and loved ones. For more than three weeks, patients have been corresponding with those they hold dear via video visits on iPads. The visits have proved to be invaluable for reducing patient stress, anxiety and loneliness.

We are adding the unprecedented additional layer of antibody screening to help survey for asymptomatic COVID-19 infections among patients and caregivers.

Effective at 7 p.m. today, CHRISTUS St. Vincent’s Southside 24-Hour Emergency Room, located at 5501 Herrera Drive, will be closed. All emergency personnel have been reassigned to the main hospital emergency department at 455. St. Michael’s Drive to assist in our community response to COVID-19.