- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Process to update county's health needs assessments begins; community invited to fill out survey
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Understanding and tracking Lake County's unique health needs is the focus of an assessment project that's now getting under way.
A group of local agencies and organizations are partnering for the update to the Lake County Health Needs Assessment.
The first assessment came out at the end of 2010. The first-of-its-kind study offered a glimpse into Lake County's public health challenges, and gave health officials and professionals a critical baseline for creating policy.
Now, as it comes time to update the document, Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Tait said a number of organizations have pooled their resources to make it a “bigger, better needs assessment.”
“It should be completed by later this year,” said Tait.
Among the participating organizations in the Lake County Health Collaborative are the county of Lake, Sutter Lakeside Hospital, St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake, Lake County Tribal Health, Mendocino Community Health Clinic and Lake Family Resource Center.
Tait said St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake helped kick off the effort and is in a leading role, handling practical aspects of the work including working with the consultant.
The new assessment, she said, will look very much like the previous one in format.
Consultant Barbara Aved of Barbara Aved Associates – who did the previous assessment and has done others around the state – was hired for the new project, which Tait said will offer continuity.
Thanks to having the 2010 baseline information, the new assessment, said Tait, will include some trending analysis to see how the county is doing with its critical health challenges.
She expects it will show some changes, although because the time frame is short they likely won't be major.
The assessment project is expected to cost about $40,000 to $50,000, Tait said. “It's kind of breathtaking, but there's a lot to it,” she said, explaining the amount of data collection and analysis involved.
Central to the process is a community health needs survey that county residents are invited to complete.
Tait said hard copies of the survey are being distributed to various public locations throughout the county.
The one page survey is printed on a sheet of yellow legal-sized paper, with the survey in English on one side, Spanish on the other, she said.
She said they will be collecting the completed surveys throughout the months of February and March.
The survey also can be found online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KeepingLakeCountyHealthy .
In addition to the survey, Tait said there will be several focus groups around the county hosted by the organizations collaborating on the assessment.
The focus groups, said Tait, give another dimension to the study, making sure the assessment isn't “just a dry review of data.”
Sutter Lakeside Hospital is inviting community members to a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 28, to hear about the assessment and offer input.
The gathering will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lakeside Wellness Center, 5196 Hill Road East Lakeport.
Vera Crabtree of Sutter Lakeside said those who attend will be asked a number of targeted questions about health.
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