Mercy Health Starts Work on Community Health Assessment
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Mercy Health-Youngstown and community partners have begun working on the Valley’s Community Health Needs Assessment, a tool that helps identify community health needs and public health disparities that need addressed.
Through a collaboration with Mahoning and Trumbull County District Boards of Health, health care systems such as Mercy Health and public health providers, data is collected and a community-wide health improvement plan is created to address specific needs that are identified.
Beginning this week, Mahoning and Trumbull County residents will be selected at random to help participate in a brief online survey that will help gather the necessary information to help drive the assessment.
“Assessing the current health status of our community is a crucial step to developing strategies aimed at improving health outcomes,” said Frank Migliozzi, health commissioner of the Trumbull County Combined Health District. These community partners are working alongside the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio and researchers at the University of Toledo to help conduct the survey.
The community health needs team includes Mercy Health-Youngstown, the Mahoning County District Board of Health, the Trumbull County Combined Health District, the Healthy Community Partnership Mahoning Valley, the Youngstown City Health District, the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board, the Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley, the Warren City Health District and the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board.
“Collaboration remains the key to successful community engagement and response,” said Donald Kline, CEO at Mercy Health–Youngstown. “Each time our health partners come together, the action plans that are developed truly impact how and where we provide services.”
Over the next two months, more than 3,500 Mahoning and Trumbull County residents will be randomly selected to participate in the survey. Those participants will be 19 years of age and older. The anonymous survey asks participants to answer questions about general health, risk and protective health factors as well as access to health care.
“The goal of this assessment process will be to collaboratively identify health priorities and the strategies needed to improve health outcomes for all community residents,” said Patricia Sweeney, health commissioner for Mahoning County District Board of Health.
The final community health assessment report will be published in the spring of 2019 at which time the results will be used to prioritize needs and create a community health improvement plan.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
