CHRISTUS Health

The rich history of CHRISTUS Health proves that a community that comes together can accomplish great things. From the early conception in 1948, when CHRISTUS Health 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 CHRISTUS Health Memorial Hospital reach its maximum growth in 1996 and plans began to focus on building a new facility. Once again, our Board of Directors was focused on the community. This time, the priority was to bring the Holloman Air Force and Alamogordo communities together by utilizing a single 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 that 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.