Our rich history proves a community that comes together can accomplish great things. From the early conception in 1948 when Gerald Champion and other community leaders decided to provide Otero County with a hospital of its own to the opening in August 1949. Mr. Champion died before the opening of the new hospital and the hospital received his name. Sixty-two years later, this hospital still belongs to the community of Alamogordo.
Many renovations and expansions saw the hospital reach its maximum growth in 1996 and plans began to focus on building a new facility. Once again our Board of directors were focused on the community. This time, a priority was bringing the Holloman Air Force and Alamogordo communities together utilizing one hospital for inpatient services. There was no blueprint for this model, but there were dedicated men and women from both communities with a vision. Many trips to Washington DC resulted in this first unique relationship of a shared facility. Physicians from HAFB have full admission status at CHRISTUS Health to treat Department of Defense patients and their dependents.
This shared-facility model has been in existence since December 1999. We all agree it has been a great success story. The future holds many possibilities for this facility and the community that was not afraid to do something different. CHRISTUS Health will continue its commitment to technological excellence, maintaining state-of-the-art capabilities in the services that are provided, developing new services, recruiting new physicians and continuing to enhance the existing electronic medical record as priorities for our future.
1959
The current Board, building upon the foundation laid by their visionary predecessors, used operating efficiencies and new services to build working capital reserves sufficient to secure the needed debt and equity to complete this modern replacement facility.
1975
The first 50 years we witnessed challenging yet exciting opportunities as new healthcare technologies and services were added to meet the demands of our community.
1985
This new replacement medical center, one of the first in the new millennium, is well-designed to move us forward into the new century.
1999
The “Evolution of Excellence” is more than a theme for CHRISTUS Health. This process launched our small hospital to continue the evolutionary growth to become a state-of-the-art medical facility and major employer in the community.
CHRISTUS Southern New Mexico has more than 700 employees. As a private, nonprofit organization, we actively return our resources in quality healthcare services to the community.
The Evolution of Excellence represents continuous change and improvement. The Evolution of Excellence IS CHRISTUS Health.
