Community Health Needs Assessment
2022 – 2025

Community Health Needs Assessment

The Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) is a process hospitals undertake every three (3) years to gain a comprehensive understanding of the community’s health needs and assess our population’s concerns about their health and the community’s health. Once the assessment is completed, hospitals can adopt an implementation strategy to address and meet the community health needs identified through the CHNA.  Jersey Community Hospital “kicked off” its 2022 CHNA in May.

The Jersey Community Hospital CHNA is designed to:

1. Provide an understanding of the health needs in our community;
2. Guide county-wide collaborative planning efforts for the next three (3) years; and
3. Serve as the basis of an implementation strategy that addresses prioritized needs

Jersey Community Hospital has completed three CHNAs prior to 2022.

2019 – The 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) was accepted by the Jersey Community Hospital District Governing Board on May 30, 2019.  The board noted the data within the report, while it is the latest publicly available, does not reflect current realities and improvements resulting from the rapid response of Jersey Community Hospital to perceived needs.

The CHNA process relies on multisector collaboration between hospitals and other key community stakeholders. Additionally, hospitals must cast a wide net into the community to yield a large and diverse response rate. This will ensure the hospital has accurate knowledge of community health and social needs.  JCH will also need to identify evidence-based strategies to overcome the social needs revealed in the CHNA.  There are many models for how to do this, but most include a series of steps or phases that include organizing and planning; engaging the community; developing a goal or vision; conducting a community health assessment; prioritizing health issues; developing a plan based on those priorities; implementation and monitoring; continued evaluation and review of outcomes.  The American Hospital Association has identified the following steps to ensure community engagement.

To complete the 2022 – 2025 CHNA, JCH seeks to recognize the impact that social determinants of health and health equity have had on our health outcomes. The process and methodology have been intentionally designed to be more inclusive of historically and presently underserved and marginalized communities. The methodology for data collection includes:

1. Reviewing and assessing key health indicators.
2. Conducting key information interviews focusing on attaining a broad perspective from the community to include input from farm workers, single parents, individuals receiving home health services, members of our underserved populations, emergency services, economic development, people with a disability, and people in recovery.
3. Piloting a broad community-wide survey that explores the linkages between health outcomes, built environment, community and individual demographics, social determinants, and access to health services.

JCH has formed a core Steering Committee to support the CHNA process.  This committee is charged with:

• Defining community
• Assisting with the planning and distribution of community surveys to obtain input from the JCH service areas
• Prioritizing health needs
• Developing implementation strategies to address the identified health priorities

The steering committee met on May 16, 2022, to begin the Community Health Needs Assessment process.  The Jersey Community Hospital CHNA Steering Committee (“Committee”) includes:

JCH CHNA Steering Committee

Brad Blackorby
Jerseyville Police Department

Julie Smith
Jersey Community Hospital

Becky Wayne
Jersey County Business Association

Jeannie Webster
Jersey Community Hospital

Shari Albrecht
Jerseyville Economic Development Council

Lacey Miller
Tri-County Rural Transit

Ben Gotten
Jersey County States Attorney

Rebecca Shipley
Jersey County Health Department

Therese Macias
Jersey Community Hospital Board

Doug King
Jersey County Health Department

Jessica Dean
Jersey Community Hospital Foundation

Amy Hess
Head Start IVEDC

Brad Tuttle
Jersey CSD #100

Jerry Schleper
Community Member

John Palcheff
Jersey Community Hospital

Beth King
Jersey Community Hospital

Visioning

Visioning is a key first step in the CHNA process.  It is a useful mechanism for building enthusiasm for the process, setting the stage and providing a common framework for the advisory committee to guide the process.  A shared community vision provides an overarching goal for the community – a statement of what an ideal future would look like for a healthy Jersey County.

During the CHNA Visioning activity, the Committee members considered four questions:

• What are the important characteristics of a healthy community?
• Who is responsible for keeping Jersey County healthy?
• What are the community values which promote a healthy community?
• What does a healthy Jersey County look like in 2025?

Committee members shared their vision for a healthy Jersey County.  The following chart shows a selection of responses to each of the four questions which were considered.

The JCH Steering Committee members identified access to high-quality health care (medical and dental) within their community as a key vision for a healthy Jersey County.  They agreed that promoting a healthy community is a commitment not just by the hospital and local health department, rather all residents have a role to play in ensuring good health.  Other partners include business owners; community groups, law enforcement; educators; and elected officials.

The Committee identified key factors which can affect health outcomes in the county:

• Access to and continuity of specialty health care without having to leave Jersey County
• Availability of sufficient mental and behavioral health services
• Lack of health education and health literacy among youth and adults
• Increasing rates of alcohol and drug use among residents
• Access to healthy food options
• Safe housing and recreational areas (parks, walking paths, playgrounds)
• Transportation services for elderly

The next step in the process will be to engage in a community survey to gather feedback from residents on the health status and importance of health priorities for the community.  Subsequently, the health issues will be prioritized and then strategies will be developed to improve health outcomes.

If you are interested in being part of this community-wide strategic planning process for the future health of our community, please reach out to bking@jch.org.

Watch this space for more information about participating in the Community survey.