The Northampton County Health Department and community partners are excited to present the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment, which provides an overview of the significant community health needs identified in Northampton County, North Carolina.

A Community Health Assessment is a process by which community members and stakeholders gain an understanding of the health issues that affect their county by collecting, analyzing and sharing information about community assets and needs. The process results in the selection of community health priorities.

Findings from this report will be used to identify, develop and target initiatives to provide and connect community members with resources to improve the health challenges in their communities.

The 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment was developed through a collaboration with Health ENC.

Vision Statement

The vision for Northampton County Health Department and Northampton Healthy Carolinians Task Force is to improve the quality of life for its citizens by offering efficient, culturally sensitive and cost-effective health care services and programs that will enrich and improve the lives of its citizens. This in turn will promote a higher standard of life through prevention, education, and intervention.

Leadership

Partnerships/Collaborations

Northampton County Health Department partnered with The Northampton Healthy Carolinians Task Force for the Community Health Assessment.  The Task Force is dedicated to improving the life of Northampton’s citizens by addressing health and safety issues at the community level. Northampton County Health Department has a mission to promote, provide and protect the health and safety of the citizens of Northampton County. The Task Force is made up of local leaders from various healthcare and nonprofit groups serving Northampton County.  Under the cross-sectoral leadership of these entities, Northampton County conducted the 2021 Community Health Assessment.

Regional/Contracted Services

The Community Health Needs Assessment was developed through a collaboration with Health ENC.  Health ENC is a collaborative initiative of health departments and hospitals in eastern North Carolina. The collaborative serves 35 counties with 34 participating health departments and 31 participating hospitals. The collaborative uses a shared approach for primary and secondary data collection to produce a comprehensive Regional Community Health Needs Assessment every three years that can be used to partially satisfy requirements for North Carolina Local Health Department Accreditation and the Internal Revenue Service requirement under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for charitable hospitals.

Theoretical framework/model

Contracted vendor used a modified population health framework for collecting the primary data and secondary data.

Collaborative Summary

Community Health Needs Assessments are completed every three years. These health assessments involve identifying and highlighting the health needs of the county and developing strategies to address those needs. This process is a collaboration and includes agencies and stakeholders from public health, local churches, local community groups and governmental agencies. This process included the direct involvement of the county’s residents through surveys and public engagement. Each of these partnerships allowed the department to identify those health priorities of greatest need and importance to the county. The CHA is an ongoing continuous improvement process that remains community centered and focused on improving the overall health and well-being of Northampton County.

Key Findings

The leading causes of death in Northampton County are Heart Disease, Cancer, Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases, Diabetes Mellitus and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Community Survey Results: Northampton County

Top 3 Quality of Life Issues identified in community survey

• 25.94% responded Low income/Poverty
• 13.05% responded Lack of Community Resources and,
• 10.18% responded Drugs/alcohol (substance abuse)

Listed above are the top three community issues that were ranked by residents as most affecting the quality of life in Northampton County. Number one was low income/poverty, which was the most frequently selected issue and was ranked by 25.94% of survey respondents, followed by lack of community resources, which was ranked the second highest issue at 13.05%. Survey respondents ranked Drugs/alcohol (substance abuse) as the third issue most affecting quality of life in Northampton County at 10.18%. Less than 1% of survey respondents selected child abuse, lack of access to enough food & rape/sexual assault as issues most affecting the quality of life in Northampton County.

Health Priorities:

The task force met three times and reviewed the community health assessment data. The health priorities were selected after reviewing the PowerPoint presentation provided by Health ENC. The  priorities selected were:

• Substance Awareness 
• Chronic Disease Management 
• Access to Services
• Tobacco/Vaping 

Next Steps:

The Northampton County Health Department will provide resources to its citizens as well as quality programs that will address many, if not most, of the concerns expressed by our citizens. All materials will be free of charge and accessible to all citizens of Northampton County

The priorities selected were:

• Chronic Disease 

• Drug/Alcohol and Substance Abuse

• Access to Services 

• Tobacco/Vaping