Mercer County, Ohio - 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment
Why are Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) and Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) screening tools important?
In order to provide accurate information on the overall state of the community’s health, it is important for community members to complete these assessments. This collective information provides important data enabling resources to be directed where most needed.
Healthcare providers complete SDOH screening tools in doctor offices and hospital settings, while the CHNA is done periodically, on a much larger scale. Mercer Health, in collaboration with the Mercer County Health Department and other community partners, has begun a new Community Health Needs Assessment. The assessment is available now and until April 30th.
Take the 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment Survey NowFrequently Asked Questions
Have you ever wondered, what makes a community healthy? Some may say healthy people make a healthy community. While that is not wrong, it doesn’t capture the entire definition of a healthy community.
• A healthy community addresses health equity, a state in which everyone has the opportunity to attain the highest level of health. This includes working to reduce the gaps caused by differences in income, education, race and ethnicity, location and other factors.
• A healthy community encourages physical activity, provides accessible health care, promotes healthy eating, promotes disease prevention, supports social connections, and invests in education.
Mercer Health certainly provides health care services to tens of thousands of people each year. However, Mercer Health’s mission reaches beyond the walls of its buildings, which includes working with community partners such as the Mercer County Health District, Mercer County ESC and all local school districts, local employers, other local healthcare providers and more. Through collaboration, community needs are determined through a variety of assessments, including Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) and Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) screening tools. Both help identify needs to create a framework of initiatives often referred to as a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in the place where people live, learn, work, and play that affect health and quality-of-life, including the areas highlighted below.
