Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Humble County health officials ask Fortuna residents to take community health assessment survey
Summary
At the March 2 Fortuna City Council meeting, Humble County public health staff described a refreshed community health assessment and health-improvement planning cycle and asked residents to complete a new survey to guide local health priorities.
At its March 2 meeting, the Fortuna City Council heard a presentation from Humble County public health officials urging local residents to complete a new community health assessment (CHA) survey that will inform the county’s Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).
"Our ask is by the end of our presentation that you take the community health assessment survey and that you encourage the Fortuna community as well to take the community health assessment survey," said Sophia Pereira, public health director for the Humble County Department of Health and Human Services.
Marian Strong, a program coordinator in public health, described the CHA as "a checkup for our entire community" that brings together data from cancer rates, prenatal care, youth tobacco use, surveys, interviews and key informant interviews to identify priority needs and existing strengths. Strong said the CHA describes conditions that help residents thrive and the barriers that hold people back, and that the CHIP functions as the "treatment plan" built from the CHA findings.
Officials said the county will move to a three-year update cycle for the CHA and CHIP to track progress more frequently. Current CHIP priority areas highlighted in the presentation include behavioral health (substance use and suicide prevention), adverse childhood experiences and healthy beginnings, and housing instability and homelessness.
Presenters pointed council members to the Live Well Humble partnership and an online data dashboard that houses local health indicators. Pereira and Strong said the CHA survey had been live a little over a week, takes about 15 minutes to complete, and that respondents are entered into a drawing to win a $30 Visa gift card.
Why it matters: The CHA and CHIP guide how public agencies and community organizations prioritize programs, align funding, and pursue grant opportunities. Council members were asked to promote the survey so the county’s planning reflects a broad cross-section of local residents.
Next steps: County public-health staff will collect survey responses, update the CHA and CHIP on the three-year cadence, and use the findings to inform future grant applications and community health initiatives.
