Albemarle Regional Health Services and community partners are pleased to present the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment, which provides an overview of the significant community health needs identified in Perquimans County, North Carolina.
     The goal of this report is to offer a meaningful understanding of the most pressing health needs across Perquimans County, as well as to guide planning efforts to address those needs. Special attention has been given to the needs of vulnerable populations, unmet health needs or gaps in services, and input gathered from the community.
     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 partnership between Albemarle Regional Health Services, Sentara Albemarle Medical Center, Health ENC and Conduent Healthy Communities Institute, with The Duke Endowment serving as the fiscal sponsor.

Vision Statement
     The Public Health professionals and programs of Albemarle Regional Health Services are dedicated to disease prevention and the promotion of a healthy environment to reduce morbidity, mortality, and disability through quality service, education, and advocacy.

Partnerships/Collaborations
     Partners in the 2021 CHNA process for Albemarle Regional Health Services include:
     • Albemarle Regional Health Services
     • Gates Partners for Health
     • Healthy Carolinians of the Albemarle
     • Sentara Albemarle Medical Center
     • Three Rivers Healthy Carolinians
     • Vidant Bertie Hospital
     • Vidant Chowan Hospital
     • Vidant Roanoke Chowan Hospital
Local Healthy Carolinians partnerships utilized grass root efforts to ensure community citizen’s opinions were heard and demographic characteristics of participants were considered to ensure that results portrayed an accurate representation of each county as a whole.

Regional/Contracted Services
     The 2021-2022 Perquimans County CHNA was supported by Health ENC (HealthENC.org), a collaborative initiative of health departments and hospitals in eastern North Carolina that provides support for community needs assessments statewide.

Collaborative Process Summary
     For the CHNA, Albemarle Regional Health Services developed a CHNA Leaders Team to help lead the process. The CHNA Leaders Team included county residents as well as representatives from various local agencies and organizations from throughout the eight-county service area. The CHA Leaders Team members brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise on a variety of issues and populations in the county, and the broad range of backgrounds ensured objectivity throughout the prioritization process. The CHA Leaders Team met three times between April 2021 and July 2021 to review strategies for conducting primary data collection for the CHNA, stay informed of the process, and provide feedback.
     Collaboration between Albemarle Regional Health Services and other local partners made this assessment possible. Many collaborators spent numerous hours attending meetings, collecting survey data, and attending presentations. These partners also played an active role in the priority selection process.

Key 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 primary and secondary data, several significant health needs were identified for Perquimans County.  These include:

• Access to Health Services
• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Economy
• Exercise, Nutrition & Weight
• Heart Disease & Stroke
• Behavioral Health
• Substance Abuse

For Healthy Carolinians of the Albemarle (Camden, Currituck, Pasquotank and Perquimans Counties) health priorities chosen were, in no particular order:

• Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors
• Access to Healthcare
• Mental Health/Substance Misuse