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Summit County releases preliminary community health assessment and dashboard showing 1,700 survey responses and gaps in language access
Summary
Health department epidemiologist Nancy Porter presented preliminary findings from a county community health assessment and the respiratory dashboard: ~1,700 survey responses, rising flu trends on par with last year, 17% of respondents uninsured, and language-access gaps for transportation and recreation services.
At a December meeting of the Summit County Board of Health, epidemiologist Nancy Porter presented preliminary results from the county—9s community health assessment (CHA) and the department—9s respiratory disease dashboard, telling board members the department collected roughly 1,700 survey responses and will use those data to shape the county—9s five-year Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).
Porter said the CHA combined a locally designed 62-question primary survey, focus groups and secondary data sources such as the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey and state public-health datasets. "This is a foundational tool," Porter said, adding the survey was offered in multiple languages and formats and included both electronic and mailed paper options to reach underrepresented communities.
Porter described the survey sample as concentrated in Park City but deliberately supplemented by mailed paper surveys targeting the East Side to improve geographic balance. "We ended up creating a large surveyabout 1,700 survey responses," she said. Electronic results show approximately 76% White and 16% Hispanic/Latino respondents; the electronic sample had a higher education profile (about 77% with college degrees or higher) than the county overall.
On health access, Porter reported about 17% of respondents were uninsured; when asked why, roughly half of that uninsured subgroup cited affordability as the reason. She also described vaccine counts recorded through department clinics: "we're just over 1,200 COVID vaccines that we've given, and we're close to 1,600 flu" (department clinics only), while noting broader coverage figures require adding partner data.
Porter walked the board through a new respiratory dashboard that displays laboratory-reported influenza, RSV and COVID counts alongside wastewater surveillance. "Right now wastewateris low," she said, but added seasonal flu activity is beginning to ramp up and could increase around December based on prior patterns.
The CHA results flagged several recurring community concerns: elder care and senior services, housing affordability, and language and translation barriers. Porter said about one-quarter of respondents reported speaking a language other than English at home (77% of those reported Spanish), and among respondents with low English skills roughly 44% said they had difficulty obtaining interpretation or translation for transportation and recreation services (only 7% reported difficulty in health-care settings).
Porter described next steps: ingesting the remaining paper surveys, triangulating primary and secondary data, convening stakeholder work groups (with representation from underserved populations), and using multivariate analysis to identify priority populations. The board will receive a preliminary final CHA report in March and is expected to be asked to adopt the CHA in April, after which the department will begin CHIP development and align budget and resource requests with the adopted priorities.
Board members praised the department—9s methods and outreach. Several members asked for comparative benchmarks to state or other districts and requested refined vaccination coverage numbers—Derek Moss committed to providing more detailed pediatric/adult breakdowns and percent estimates to the board.
