Community health needs assessment project underway

“We looked at all the data and noted where our strengths and weaknesses were,” Nancy Farmer, Director of Virginia Gay Hospital Home Health Agency, said.

Health priorities were established at a follow-up meeting in October. Representatives from Vinton-Shellsburg school, Virginia Gay Hospital, Benton County empowerment, Area Substance Abuse Council, Abbe Center for Mental Health, Benton County Extension, Horizon’s, St. Luke’s Family Health, Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School, Benton County Board of Health, WIC, HACAP, ICAS, Allen Hospital outreach/prevention gambling treatment all reviewed the data.

Two subcommittees were established to address the top three identified issues facing Benton County. These issues were determined at the stakeholder meeting in September:

Underage Drinking and Substance Abuse

Nutrition and obesity

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“The subcommittees continue to meet and are in the process of developing strategies to address the concerns,” Farmer said.

Jenn Draper is to address the underage drinking and substance abuse priority and continues her work on the Above the Influence Coalition.

“We are dedicated to eliminate underage drinking and drug abuse in Benton County,” Draper said. “Right now we are in the process of recruiting to the coalition and to get that grassroots movement going.”

The second subcommittee is led by Greg Walston, Program Director at the Benton County Iowa State Extension Office, and focuses on nutrition and obesity.

“We are going to try to do some nutrition classes from kindergarten through second grade at Vinton schools,” Walston said. “It’s still in the planning stages. We want to focus on nutrition at the schools, see what they are missing and see if we can fill in the holes.”

Walston and the nutrition subcommittee are also working with Farmer to bring IWALK to Benton County.

“IWALK helps create safe ways for kids to walk to school,” Farmer said.

To prepare for IWALK Farmer and the subcommittee have contacted local teachers and parents to discuss how children get to and from school.

The next step will be to have adults walk different routes to school in order to identify potential hazards.

The last step will be to apply for a grant to fix the potential hazardous locations that prevent children from walking to and from school.

The subcommittees are still in the early stages of planning and will meet a few more times before the report is due in February.

The overall goal for the community health needs assessment project is to help improve the overall health of the residents of Benton County.

“In these tight economic times, it’s important for us to maximize our resources and place our dollars where they can do the most good,” Farmer said.