Chester County health department releases 2025 community health assessment, flags disparities despite overall strengths

Chester County’s health department on June 4 presented its 2025 Community Health Assessment to the Board of Commissioners, saying the report confirms the county’s high overall health status while highlighting persistent disparities that require targeted action.

“Local public health is where public health happens,” Jean Franklin, director of the health department, told commissioners as she introduced the assessment and its next steps. Franklin said the department began the work before the COVID-19 pandemic, paused and resumed work afterward, and used a mix of historical and newly collected data to prepare the report.

The assessment consolidates publicly available data, partner-provided studies and original community input gathered over two years, including a community health and wellness survey that drew more than 4,000 responses, officials said. “We asked residents their opinions on…barriers to accessing health care, and their top community health and environmental concerns,” Stephanie Steiner, the department’s population health coordinator, told the board.

Why it matters: The report is intended as a roadmap to prioritize county and partner action. The health department said chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer remain leading causes of death in Chester County and that demographic shifts — including an aging and more racially and ethnically diverse population — will create new demands for health care and services.

Key findings and methods - The CHA portrays Chester County as “a very healthy county” with a high quality of life, while documenting health disparities that affect specific populations, according to the report presentation. - The department used data analysis, literature reviews, stakeholder engagement and community outreach; more than 30 subject-matter experts reviewed the first draft and a public engagement event was held last summer. - Public outreach included a door-knocking campaign to reach residents less likely to appear in conventional surveys.

Officials emphasized limits in the data. “It may not reflect where we’re at today, but it was when that data was either collected or analyzed,” Franklin said, noting COVID-era effects in some indicators and urging users not to “fight the data.”

Next steps Franklin and Steiner said the department will move from assessment to action with a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) developed in partnership with county agencies, nonprofits and private-sector partners. Examples cited by the presenters of work already underway or being explored include expanded mobile medications-for-addiction-treatment (mobile MAT) and continued growth of the county’s Human Needs Network.

The health department also plans “spotlight reports” to dig deeper into priority disparities and to collect more localized data where gaps exist. The department posted the 100+-page assessment and related attachments at chesco.org/health, and officials urged organizations and residents to review the key reports and participate in follow-up planning.

Ending: The department said the CHA is intended to coordinate and focus community efforts on disparities and that drafting the CHIP will involve further community feedback and partner collaboration. “We can do more analysis,” Franklin said, “and keep the excitement of what has already started from this.”