Socorro General Hospital grows with local talent and new doctors

Hospital Chief Executive Veronica Pound delivered a detailed update on the current status and developments at Socorro General Hospital during a recent Socorro County Commission meeting.

“This is some good news. I know one of the biggest complaints in the community, and I’m sure you’ve heard it as well, is we didn’t have any openings, and we weren’t taking new patients,” Pound said.

She said that at the end of October, they began taking patients again.

“We have now Dr. Sells, who’s a new physician in our community; we have hired a physician assistant. Her name is Grace Hoffman.” Pound said. “And we also have two offers out to another physician assistant and to another family practice doctor. So that’s huge news.”

She said staffing has been a major challenge, and they have been focusing on retaining their current staff and recruiting local students.

“Two of those (CNM) students are employed by us, and they graduate in May. There’s another young man that comes from Belen and my staff are trying to recruit him. So I think we’ll have three new grads in May and in December,” Pounds said. “We employ 192 employees. We hired eight new graduates last year from Socorro County who grew up in Socorro County. So we’re very proud of that.”

According to Pound, Socorro General Hospital is a 25-bed critical access hospital and part of the Presbyterian Healthcare Services network. It has been in Socorro since 1984. In 2023, the Hospital had 31,000 clinic visits, 107 baby deliveries, 1,700 telehealth visits, over 10,000 emergency room visits, 500 inpatient discharges, 525 surgeries and 500 outpatient infusions.

The Hospital offers 24/7 emergency care, urgent care, outpatient infusion services, medical and surgical units, and inpatient hospice care. It has also expanded its telehealth and telebehavioral health services in the emergency room, said Pound.

“What has really grown in our community is our outpatient infusion services. If you need some sort of therapy, IV therapy, or an injection or long-term antibiotics, we can do that there at the Hospital.” Pound said.

She said one of the most underutilized services they offer is gynecological care.

“We still deliver babies at the Hospital. That’s a good thing without us; as you know, from Las Cruces Albuquerque, about 225 miles from Ruidoso to our state line is about 400 miles, which would create an OB desert. So Presbyterian has continued to let us provide OB services,” Pound said.

She said they also have a cardiologist who comes every Tuesday from Albuquerque and will likely add another day of service since they get booked quickly.

“We do CAT scans. We have the mobile MRI truck three days a week. We have ultrasound and general ultrasound seven days a week. We have echocardiograms seven days a week. Now, we do bone density. And in 2025, we will have screening and mammogram services in Socorro,” Pound said.

Pound thanked the county for their support and explained how the mill levy helps the Hospital.

She said the total Medicaid and Medicare loss for the Hospital is 1.4 million, “ It’s a huge, huge loss. So without that mill levy, it would be $2.4 million, and without that mill levy, we probably wouldn’t have our Hospital in Socorro. So it’s very, very well appreciated.”