Community Health Assessment Update
Western Health today provided an update on the Community Health Assessment. The assessment began in 2019 with a survey completed by 1471 residents throughout the region. Summary reports for seven local Primary Health Care areas and the region are now available on Western Health’s website. The results of the survey will be used to determine priorities, help plan programs and services, and inform the organization’s strategic plan.
“Engaging with people in our communities and hearing their perspective about the issues they are facing is very valuable to us at Western Health,” said Cindy Davis, CEO of Western Health. “We are very thankful for each person who provided valuable feedback to Western Health through the survey, which supports us during our strategic planning process.”
Respondents indicated their top three community concerns to be addictions, cost of living, and chronic disease. Overall comments indicated concerns with access to services such as family physicians, wait times for services, recruitment and retention of health care providers, and the impacts of the current cost of living on the senior population. The survey also demonstrated positive feedback including a high percentage of respondents that indicated they have a family physician or nurse practitioner, and satisfaction with their health care provider and the health care services they used within the past 12 months.
“The information gathered from this survey helps us understand the current health status and needs of the residents in the western region and will help shape our goals for the next three years,” said Mariel Parcon, Regional Manager Research and Evaluation. “We are very appreciative to the residents who took the time to share their perspectives on community concerns.”
For more information about the Community Health Assessment, visit Western Health’s website.
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Media contact:
Tara Pye
Director of Communications
Western Health
709-784-5252
tarajpye@westernhealth.nl.ca
Backgrounder
A Community Health Assessment (CHA) is a dynamic and on-going process undertaken to identify the strengths and needs of a community, and to establish its health and wellness priorities. CHAs provide information about local areas as well as contribute to a broader understanding of health and wellness in Newfoundland and Labrador. Western Health uses CHAs to help prioritize, plan and act on unmet community needs to improve the health of residents of the Western region.
Western Health’s CHA process uses a mixed methods approach to compile data on the community health needs and resources, which includes the collection of quantitative and qualitative data. The CHA process includes: gathering information about health and wellness (facts and opinions), collecting information about health and community resources (assets), evaluating the information to determine strengths, needs, and the community’s priorities, and building partnerships and strategizing together to address health and wellness needs using assets and resources within the community.
The Western region includes communities from Port aux Basques, southeast to Francois, northwest to Bartlett’s Harbour, and on the eastern boundary north to Jackson’s Arm. The region is divided into the following Primary Health Care areas:
· Corner Brook/Bay of Islands
· Deer Lake/White Bay
· Port aux Basques
· Burgeo/Ramea
· Bay St. George
· Bonne Bay
· Port Saunders