HNC 2030 Scorecard: Alexander County

VISION STATEMENT
The mission for the Alexander County Health Department is to promote, protect and ensure the health and well-being of all citizens of Alexander County. In the practice of public health, the health of the population is monitored and evaluated by examining key indicators such as leading causes of death, access to health care, and health trends such as physical activity. Every four years, the Alexander County Health Department conducts a state-developed process known as the community health assessment (CHA). Findings from the CHA are used by the Health Department to lead strategic planning and to guide collaborative community action addressing identified priority issues. The CHA is also used to meet the requirements for state accreditation of local health departments. Though the Health Department facilitates the process, the CHA is a true community assessment, conducted in junction with many local partner agencies and lead by the Healthy Alexandrians Task Force.

HEALTH PRIORITIES
Healthy Alexandrians members reviewed the data obtained from the 2017-2018 Alexander County Community Health Assessment Survey and ranked areas of concern using the following criteria: severity, magnitude, urgency, and intervention effectiveness. Survey respondents made recommendations for the top ten health issues: cancer, obesity/overweight, heart disease, diabetes, depression/mental health, dental health, lack of physical activity, access to care, availability to healthy food, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Participants of the final Priority Setting meeting in February 2018 made recommendations for the top three health issues to address in the next four years: Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Healthy Lifestyles. The 2018 CHA Priorities were similar to the ones in 2014. The Healthy Alexandrians Task Force decided that these were still the most important and needed continued efforts. The next steps for each focus area are as follows:

Mental Health
• Use the grant to build a behavioral health program at the Alexander County Health Department
• Increase education programs for suicide prevention
• Increase public awareness of existing counseling resources for mental health
• Lobby for and seek additional funds for mental health care in the county

Substance Abuse
• Increase/maintain substance abuse prevention programs in Alexander County schools
• Create a public awareness/educational campaign to stress that substance abuse is an equal-opportunity disease and is a gateway to many risk-taking behaviors and chronic health problems
• Educate the public on proper disposal sites of unused and/or expired medication
• Use available grant funds to build harm reduction in response to the opioid crisis in the county
• Lobby for and seek additional funds for residents affected by substance abuse in the county

Healthy Lifestyles
• Create public awareness/prevention campaigns to combat high obesity, cancer, and heart disease rates
• Maintain partnerships with other local agencies with significant community outreach to encourage healthier lifestyles
• Synchronize CHA efforts with other strategic efforts in the city and county to establish and promote parks and recreational activities

2019-2022 ALEXANDER COUNTY COMMUNITY HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PLAN (CHIP)/STRATEGIC PLAN
Utilizing the data from the Community Health Improvement Process, a CHIP was developed in order to address the priority areas of concern.

EMERGING ISSUES SINCE LAST COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSESSMENT: COVID-19
Based on the 2018 CHA and 2019 State of the County Health Report (SOTCH), Alexander County's Community Health Improvement Plan focus areas for 2020 remained as Mental Health, Substance Use Disorder and Healthy Lifestyles until the Covid-19 pandemic occurred. The pandemic called for its own set of focus areas including communicating factual messages to help stop the spread of Covid-19 disease, providing diagnostic testing and, when it became available, providing vaccine doses according to North Carolina's phased rollout of vaccinations. The Covid-19 response metrics became part of our Healthy Lifestyles focus area for 2020 and 2021.

This Scorecard is being used to illustrate the priority health needs in Alexander County as identified through our Community Health Assessment process and the efforts to address them. Scorecard utilizes the Results-Based Accountability/Scorecard processes through the North Carolina Division of Public Health and Clear Impact. More information is available at:

Note: Due to the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic and the actions necessary to respond to it, many of the initiatives set forth from the 2018 Community Health Assessment were necessarily impacted or delayed.

COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSESSMENTS

Mental Health

Substance Use Disorder (Substance Abuse)

Healthy Lifestyles

SOTCH REPORTS

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