Nearly one thousand responses from a community health survey are helping to shape priorities for hospitals and health departments in Ingham, Eaton and Clinton counties.
The Healthy! Capital Counties project, a collaboration between health departments and hospitals in the Tri-county area, conducted the survey as part of a health needs assessment.
Ingham County Deputy Health Officer Anne Barna said the aim of the survey was to understand which health needs are important for people in mid-Michigan.
Based on feedback, focus groups and other data gathered by the HCC, she said the group will prioritize access to health care and behavioral health issues in its upcoming Community Health Improvement Plan.
The group recently added a third area of focus, housing, to its plan. This was selected at a 'Data Party' event in Lansing on Sept. 5.
“Our interest, from a public health perspective as well as our health systems is how can we keep more people from becoming unhoused and then how can we make everyone’s home environment more healthy,” she said.
As an example, Barna said HCC could focus on addressing lead contamination or asthma triggers in homes.
The HCC's Health Improvement Plan will guide the group's efforts over the next three years.
“And what that means is we get together and say, okay, now that we’ve picked these three priorities, what are we actually going to do about these and ideally what we we see is that we’re working more together on these things as a priority,” she said.
Barna said while another priority could be established by the HCC, in previous years the group found it easier to stay focused on few priorities.
The group plans to hold meetings this fall to talk more about their health improvement plan.