Community Results Statement

Leading the way to a healthier community

Leadership for the Community Health Assessment Process

The leadership for the CHA process included the Clay County Health Department Public Health Educator and the Interim Health Director.

Partnerships

Partnerships during the CHA process were particularly crucial. The main partnership came from Healthy Carolinians, which is comprised of multiple entities from around the county. Healthy Carolinians was developed to enhance the health of Clay County through networking to determine how we can support each other within our county.

Regional/Contracted Services

Our county received support from WNC Healthy Impact, a partnership and coordinated process between hospitals, public health agencies, and key regional partners in western North Carolina working towards a vision of improved community health. We work together locally and regionally to assess health needs, develop collaborative plans, take action, and evaluate progress and impact.  This innovative regional effort is coordinated and supported by WNC Health Network. WNC Health Network is the alliance of stakeholders working together to improve health and healthcare in western North Carolina. Learn more at www.WNCHN.org.

Theoretical Framework/Model

Collaborative Process Summary

Clay County’s collaborative process is supported on a regional level by WNC Healthy Impact.

Locally, our process is to share our Community Health Assessment Primary and Secondary data with our CHA team to identify and prioritize our priorities for the CHA.

Clay County examined the data that was distributed by WNC Healthy Impact, and distributed the information to the CHA team. To determine the key issues for Clay County, the Public Health Educator created a rating and prioritizing worksheet to help determine which issue is the highest priority that can be obtained within Clay County. The results showed that Chronic Disease Prevention and Control, Prevention and Management of Acute Respiratory Infections along with Prevention and Screening for Cancers are three areas of need that are still troubling our county.

Phase 1 of the collaborative process began in January 2021 with the collection of community health data. For more details on this process see Chapter 1 – Community Health Assessment Process.

Key Findings

The data collected for the 2021 Community Health Assessment showed a need for prevention and control on chronic illnesses. According to the data, the leading cause of death included diseases of the heart, chronic lung disease, and diabetes mellitus. Unfortunately, the lifestyle behaviors and health status such as inactivity, obesity, and poor nutrition continues to be a prevalent cause of these chronic diseases. The data also showed the need to prevent and manage acute respiratory infections. In the analysis, it showed that flu, pneumonia, and COVID-19 were a contributing factor in several cases where death had occurred. Thirdly, Cancer seems to play a role in the lives of several Clay County residents, making prevention and proper screening essential for the wellbeing of the community.

Health Priorities

The Following health issues were identified as priorities:

Chronic Disease Control and Prevention

Prevention and Management of Acute Respiratory Infections.

Prevention and Screening for Cancer

Next Steps

The next steps for developing the community health improvement plans include:

• Working with partners and community members to understand the root cause of the problem and determine how to implement changes to improve the overall health of the county
• Using evidence-based strategies when working on health issues within the county.
• Selecting priority strategies and creating performance measures to help us evaluate how people are better off because of the strategies.
• Publish the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) on an electronic Scorecard that anyone can access to monitor progress.
• To access the full data set that was used for the CHA please email Regina Harper at reginaharper@clayhdnc.us