Making the Grade: A Community Health Assessment

During a Q&A session at a community presentation last week, I was asked, “how does Clinton County stack up, health-wise, against other communities?” Now statistically we can say, we are better at this measure or worse at this one, but overall how do we know? How do you go about giving a community of almost 80,000 residents, spanning over 1,000 square miles a report card? Answer, a community health assessment (CHA). This month we are putting our usual host in the hot seat. Instead of asking the questions, Molly Flynn, Principal Public Health Educator at CCHD, will be answering them. Molly joined CCHD in 2018 and has been involved in three out of four iterations of the community health assessment resident survey. She is going to walk us through what the assessment is, why we need it, how we make sure it’s a good representation of our community, and more.

Molly, we will start with an easy one. What is a community health assessment?

A community health assessment, or CHA, is a snapshot of our community and the experiences we, Clinton County residents, are having related to health. If we want a good assessment, we have to take different things into consideration. Things like what health data is available, what resources exist, and what opportunities for health are available are all important. Good assessments also talk to residents and community partners about their experiences and the changes they think our community needs. Lastly, good assessments find the gaps between what we have and what is missing to help residents live healthier lives. CCHD is working with UVHN-CVPH on our next community health assessment right now!

And why is it important for us to do them regularly?

In NYS, local health departments and hospitals are encouraged to work together to complete a community health assessment every three years. This process has been happening in different forms for decades. The assessment is the first step to creating a community health improvement plan, something else we’ve had for many, many years. Think about it like this… We can’t figure out what where we need to go if we don’t know where we currently are. Repeating the assessment every few years is like taking a new picture. It allows us to see what we’ve accomplished since the last one and what still needs to be done. It not only allows us to identify new issues but also new resources and solutions we didn’t have the last time we looked.  In short, we do it to tell our community’s story but also so we are continually improving the community and making it easier to be healthier in Clinton County.

Okay, so you are working on the next assessment right now, and want to make sure it’s a good assessment, who do you work with to make that happen and how?

Our process takes a little over a year from beginning to end and includes A LOT of collaboration. Hundreds of people are called upon to share opinions, experiences, knowledge, and ideas. Some are decision makers and leaders, others are experts in health, mental health, or wellbeing. In our local process, we also seek to include business owners, educators, service agencies, and residents. We will gather hundreds of health measures, compile lists of programs, services and other resources. There will be lots of analysis and prioritization of findings as the year unfolds but the most important step in the process is our resident survey.  This is how we call on our residents to share their opinions and experiences related to health in our community.

So every single member of our community can have a say in assessment? How do we do that?

Easy, take the survey!  It only takes about 10 minutes to complete and can be found here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/CHA2025. The survey asks questions about your and your family’s health experiences, what you feel are health, social, and environmental concerns in our community and what you think defines a “healthy community.”  While we do our best to get the survey to as many residents as possible, we know our biggest resource is you. So if you are here reading this and have found the link, encourage your Clinton County family, friends and neighbors to also take the survey.  Share the link with them, help them connect with CCHD on social media so they also receive our posts… about the survey and many other important health related topics. 

10 Minutes seems easy enough, why is it important for residents to participate?

Well, the community health assessment is only as good as the information we have to consider.  The more experiences we know and understand, the better the plan for community health improvement can be. By participating in the process, by taking the survey and staying up to date with progress, you are helping guide the actions we take as a community.

Top 3 things to remember.

1. Community health assessments are a “snapshot” in time that health partners use to track progress and develop plans of continued health improvement.
2. Community health assessments are only as good as the information used in the process of completing them.
3. You can help! Take the survey and share your experiences. Share the link with your Clinton County family, friends and neighbors.