Assignment 1: Community Health Assessment

There is a lot that goes in to understanding a community, its strengths, and what areas can be better. A community health assessment plan can be a tremendous start to the arduous undertaking of community improvement. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, defines A community health assessment (sometimes called a CHA), also known as community health needs assessment (sometimes called a CHNA), refers to a state, tribal, local, or territorial health assessment that identifies key health needs and issues through systematic, comprehensive data collection and analysis (CDC, 2015). Community health assessments use such principles as Multisector collaborations that support shared ownership of all phases of community health …show more content…
Its community health improvement project is a comprehensive approach to “assessing community health and developing and implementing action‐plans to improve community health through community member and partner engagement” (Read, 2012). The community health improvement project includes two distinct yet connected processes. First, the community health assessment engages community members and partners to collect and analyze health‐related data and information from a variety of sources. The findings of the community health assessment are meant to “inform community decision‐making, the prioritization of health problems, and the development and implementation of a community health improvement plan” (Read, 2012). Second, the community health improvement plan is action‐oriented and outlines the community health priorities (based on the community health assessment and community input). The plan also includes how the priority issues will be addressed to improve the health of the community. This community health assessment was conducted by the Kittitas County Public Health Department (KCPHD) in collaboration with a Community Health Improvement Steering Committee which held seven committee meetings and several sub‐committee meetings over a ten month period to complete the community health assessment (Read, 2012). In addition, KCPHD partnered with Central Washington …show more content…
This information can help develop a community health improvement plan by justifying how and where resources should be allocated to best meet community needs (CDC, 2015). Benefits include: Improved organizational and community coordination and collaboration. Increased knowledge about public health and the interconnectedness of activities. Strengthened partnerships within state and local public health systems. Identified strengths and weaknesses to address in quality improvement efforts. Baselines on performance to use in preparing for accreditation. Benchmarks for public health practice improvements (CDC, 2015). Findings of the assessment brought a number of issues to the forefront in Kittitas County. The Kittitas County community health assessment is a comprehensive analysis of the area, but is light in some