What are the most pressing health issues impacting residents in Kent County? That’s what the 2020 Community Health Needs Assessment survey intends to find out. The Kent County Health Department, local health systems and community partners are collecting the information. And officials say COVID-19 will likely play a role in some of the feedback.
“A significant piece of understanding the health of our community is hearing directly from the general public, is hearing about the challenges they face and health related issues that are most important to them.”
That’s Kent County Health Department’s Epidemiologist, Maris Brummel who’s leading the effort.
She says the 2020 Community Health Needs Assessment Survey, or CHNA, is now open to the residents of Kent County.
“Ultimately the information in the CHNA is used to created community health improvement plans and make decisions about how to improve community health.”
Brummel says the survey is only conducted every three years and they really want the residents of Kent County to participate, especially with the coronavirus pandemic being part of the survey this time around.
“We have some specific questions in there about how the pandemic has affected them and their families and what has helped them through the pandemic or during the pandemic, I should say. Because we want to know the strengths of these communities so that we can use that in improvement planning.”
Brummel says the survey will be open for eight weeks. It’s available in both English and Spanish. It takes about 15 minutes to complete. You can find more information at accesskent.com
Paper copies are also available. Results should be available by the first quarter of 2021.
