Executive Summary

Edgecombe County is pleased to present its 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment. This report provides an overview of the methods and process used to identify and prioritize significant health needs in Edgecombe County.

Vision Statement

The Edgecombe County Community Health Needs Assessment Team is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of the residents of Edgecombe County.

Leadership

The 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) was conducted in a regional NC Community Health Needs Assessment process, spearheaded by Health ENC. The completion of the County assessment and priorities were compiled in partnership with the Edgecombe County Health Department, Vidant Edgecombe Hospital, Health ENC, and members of the Edgecombe County Rural Health Network. Several other local community partners were involved in the completion of the 2021 CHNA.

Partnerships/Collaborations

Regional/Contracted Services

The 2021 Edgecombe County CHNA was developed in collaboration with the Edgecombe County Health Department, Vidant Edgecombe Hospital, Vidant Health System, and Health ENC.

Theoretical Framework/Model

The Social-Ecological Model was used to guide the development of the 2021 CHNA. The CHNA includes all levels of the model including: primary data through individual responses to the community survey, focus groups to promote relationship and community engagement and secondary data analyses to assess societal factors on health outcomes.

Collaborative Process Summary

Vidant Edgecombe Hospital and the Edgecombe County Health Department worked closely with Health ENC to provide the community with the needs assessment survey. The survey was distributed using several different methods from April, 2021 to June, 2021. The results from the completed surveys helped drive the CHNA team’s determination of priorities to address over the next three years.

Key Findings

Primary Data

The primary data used in this assessment consisted of (1) a community survey distributed through online and paper submissions. 385 Edgecombe County residents contributed their input on the community’s health and health-related needs, barriers, and opportunities, with special focus on the needs of vulnerable and underserved populations.

Secondary Data

Secondary data used for this assessment were collected and analyzed from Conduent HCI’s community indicator database. The database, maintained by researchers and analysts at Conduent HCI, includes over 100 community indicators from various state and national data sources such as the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Community Survey. See Appendix B for a full list of data sources used.

Indicator values for Edgecombe County were compared to North Carolina counties and U.S. counties to identify relative need. Other considerations in weighing relative areas of need included comparisons to North Carolina state values, comparisons to national values, trends over time, Healthy People 2030 targets and Healthy North Carolina 2030 targets. Based on these seven different comparisons, indicators were systematically ranked from high to low need.

Summary of Findings

The CHNA findings are drawn from an analysis of an extensive set of secondary data (over 100 indicators from national and state data sources) and in-depth primary data from community leaders, health and non-health professionals who serve the community at large, vulnerable populations, and populations with unmet health needs. Through a synthesis of the primary and secondary data the significant health needs were determined for Edgecombe County and are displayed in Table 1.

Table 1. Significant Health Needs

• Substance Abuse
• Community Resources
• Health Insurance
• COVID-19 Pandemic
• Transportation
• Food Insecurity

Health Priorities

On December 6, 2021, community partners and members of the Edgecombe County Rural Health Network met to discuss the results from the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment for Edgecombe County. After reviewing the data and discussing health issues highlighted in the report, the following priority areas were chosen to be addressed for the next three years:

• Substance use/mental health
• Social determinants of health
• Health disparities and health equity

Next Steps

This report describes the process and findings of a comprehensive health needs assessment for the residents of Edgecombe County, North Carolina. The prioritization of the identified significant health needs will guide community health improvement efforts of Edgecombe County. Following this process, Edgecombe County will outline how they plan to address the prioritized health needs in their implementation plan.

1. Substance Abuse/ Mental Health

2. Social Determinants of Health

3. Health Disparities and Health Equity