Review of Existing Assessments

Executive Summary

One of the first acts of the Foundation for Community Health in 2003 was to create a Needs Assessment Committee to research and study the existing health resources and perceived health needs of its catchment area. The Foundation believed that the success of its mission — to improve the health care of its communities — depended upon a thorough knowledge of current socio-demographic information, health conditions and resources of those communities.

To that end, the Needs Assessment Committee began its own assessment process by first commissioning Amy Sapp, a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Society, Human Development and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health to review 17 pre-existing reports conduced in the previous 10 years.

The distribution of health outcomes in a population often follows the distribution of social, demographic, and economic characteristics. By reviewing past health assessments the Foundation gained a general picture of our local and state health picture and was then able to focus on areas that needed further exploration. State health departments and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provide the most valid and reliable information on health indicators, behaviors, and risk factors.

Full Report — (870kb)