Introduction 

The Community Health Needs Assessment process identifies the needs of Wake County, particularly as they relate to the health of its residents, as well as the resources that are currently available or are needed to positively address those needs. Wake County is home to a large and diverse community within its twelve municipalities. The county is also home to numerous colleges and universities, three major hospital systems, and is the capital of North Carolina. Wake County is consistently ranked as one of the best places in which to live, work, play, and learn.

Leadership

Partnerships/Collaborations

To avoid the development of multiple CHNAs and the duplication of efforts among agencies in Wake County, a joint CHNA has been developed through the collaborative efforts of nine organizations, including Advance Community Health, Alliance Health, Duke Raleigh Hospital, UNC REX Healthcare, United Way of the Greater Triangle, Wake County Human Services, Wake County Medical Society Community Health Foundation, WakeMed Health and Hospitals, and Youth Thrive.

Theoretical Framework/Model

Collaborative Process Summary

From March 2018 through April 2019, over 100 agency and community partners in Wake County collaborated to complete the 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). The 2019 CHNA examines the overall health needs of the residents of Wake County and allows the county to continuously evaluate how best to improve and promote the health of the community. The overarching goals of the 2019 CHNA are to:

• Evaluate the impact of implementation strategies and action plans that resulted from the 2016 CHNA;
• Collect and analyze primary (new) and secondary (existing) data to identify areas of need within the county;
• Report findings to the residents of Wake County, hospitals, community agencies, and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services;
• Engage the community to determine the priorities to be addressed; and,
• Develop a community-based action plan to address the priorities.

To avoid the development of multiple CHNAs and the duplication of efforts among agencies in Wake County, a joint CHNA has been developed through the collaborative efforts of nine organizations, including Advance Community Health, Alliance Health, Duke Raleigh Hospital, UNC REX Healthcare, United Way of the Greater Triangle, Wake County Human Services, Wake County Medical Society Community Health Foundation, WakeMed Health and Hospitals, and Youth Thrive.

As outlined through this document, a significant amount of data and information have been reviewed and incorporated in this process, and the planning partners have been careful to ensure that a variety of sources were leveraged to develop a truly comprehensive report. Assessment methods included both existing statistical data as well as new data that were collected directly from the community throughout this process.

Changes since the 2016 CHNA

Much work has been done since the completion of the 2016 Wake County CHNA to positively impact the previously identified priority areas, which included:

• Health Insurance Coverage
• Transportation
• Access to Health Services
• Mental Health and Substance Abuse

Various efforts and programs have been established to address these priority areas in recent years; however, room for continued improvement still exists. As evidenced by the priority findings discussed throughout this assessment, some of the needs identified in 2016 are still applicable today. In other cases, needs that were not highly prioritized in 2016 are now being increasingly discussed and identified as a priority.

Health Priorities

Wake County truly is a great place to live and is currently considered to be the healthiest county in North Carolina. While it is clearly important to recognize those truths, the individuals and organizations that dedicated time and resources to this assessment are continuing to strive for further improvements to provide residents of our county with tailored resources to meet their greatest needs.Existing data was analyzed to quantify priority areas of concern. Wake County demographic, social, and health indicators were compared to applicable population health benchmarks and peer counties. Benchmarks included Healthy North Carolina 2020 and Healthy People 2020 measures. Mecklenburg County, NC and Travis County, TX were named peer counties for comparison. Based on data findings and input gathered from community organizations and residents through focus groups and surveys, the following five focus areas have been identified as county-wide priorities for the 2019 CHNA:

Transportation Options and Transit

• Information related to how people get around for work, school, and play as well as public transportation and other transportation choices

Employment

• Data related to how many people have jobs, what types of jobs they have, and whether people feel they can get a good job in Wake County.

Access to Care

• Data pertaining to how and why people use or do not use healthcare, how many people have health insurance, how much healthcare there is in the community, and how much information there is about healthcare.

Mental Health/Substance Use Disorders

• Data related to mental health disease (like depression, Alzheimer’s, and Schizophrenia), poor mental health days, and hurting oneself; the Substance Use Disorders priority includes data related to alcohol, opioid, and illegal drug use as well as data related to overdoses.

Housing and Homelessness

• Information related to the cost of housing, housing choices, and how many people are homeless.

Next Steps

The next and final step in the CHNA process is to develop community-based health improvement strategies and action plans to address the five priorities identified for Wake County in this assessment. The CHNA partners will be reaching out to invite members of the community and community organizations to a community action planning meeting to discuss the best ways to address these priorities. The most effective strategies will be those that have the collaborative support of community organizations and residents. We strongly encourage you to get involved! Ways to get involved include:

• Checking the http://www.wakegov.com wellbeing website for the date, time, and location of the CHNA strategy and action planning meetings.
• Plan to attend the community action planning meetings that will be held throughout the county.
• Encourage your family, neighbors, co-workers, and community organizations to read the CHNA and get involved in the planning process as well.

Click here to view the CHNA Executive Summary 

The following five focus areas have been idenfied as county-wide priorities for the 2019 CHNA:

• Employment
• Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
• Housing and Homelessness
• Access to Care
• Transportation Options and Transit