LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Local officials and organizations are partnering to update the Lake County Community Health Needs Assessment, and they’re asking county residents to give their input on the effort by month’s end.
The collaborative is hoping for a strong response to a survey of Lake County’s health care needs that’s being circulated around the community and also is online.
“The community survey is the best part of this needs assessment process. Hearing directly from people about their issues and priorities for being healthy makes our analysis much more real. We need to hear from everybody,” said Lake County Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait.
The brief survey, open until April 10, can be found online here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KeepingLakeCountyHealthy .
Since early February, a one-page survey printed on yellow paper, in English and Spanish, has been distributed in locations throughout the county, including the lobby of the courthouse in Lakeport, officials said. The paper survey will continue to be available through the end of March.
“Ultimately, we will give just about everybody an opportunity to answer that survey,” said health care consultant Barbara Aved.
The survey is part of the work currently under way to update the 2010 Community Health Needs Assessment.
Aved, who facilitated the process for completing the 2010 assessment and is involved in the current work, said it’s a comprehensive study of Lake County’s unique health needs and challenges.
Aved anticipates that the report will be ready by the end of September.
Tait’s office said information gathered from the surveys, focus groups and health data is compiled and analyzed to highlight areas where there is room for improvement in both prevention of illness and access to treatment.
Local hospitals, nongovernmental organizations, county departments and others will use the updated assessment in planning how to better serve the community, health officials reported.
“Why the group wants this information is for planning services and planning interventions,” Aved said.
It will provide important documentation to support grant applications, such as the $497,076 Community Transformation Grant recently awarded to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake to promote health and prevent chronic disease, according to Tait’s office.
The online survey is being made available for a few weeks longer this time, Aved said. During the last assessment, they found that 63 percent of the responses in both English and Spanish came from the paper surveys.
Originally, the online survey was available both in Spanish and English. However, Aved said that for the 2010 assessment they received no responses in Spanish, so this year’s survey is only available in English.
One of the challenges, said Aved, is getting people out to participate in focus groups that are being hosted by various organizations around the county.
“It’s really hard to get into the crevices of a community,” Aved said.
She said those focus groups are important because they give the consumer perspective. It’s one thing to look up data, but it’s really important to talk to people, she said.
The goal is to talk to parents, seniors and other specially focused groups, she said.
For more information contact the Lake County Health Services Department at 707-263-1090.
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