2019 Orange County Community Health Assessment Report Released
The Orange County Health Department (OCHD) and Healthy Carolinians of Orange County (HCOC) has released the completed 2019 Orange County Community Health Assessment report. The full report can be found online.
The 2019 Community Health Assessment (CHA) enables local public health officials and community groups to monitor trends in health status, determine priorities among health issues, and determine the availability of resources within Orange County to best protect and promote the public’s health.
The document seeks to be useful, relevant, actionable, and both reflective and forward-looking; as well as provide information for effective strategic community health planning.
The OCHD and the HCOC partnership, which consists of several community members, organizations and agencies, worked collaboratively to complete the CHA. The overall health of Orange County was assessed through information obtained from community members and professionals via: community health opinion surveys; focus groups and community input sessions. Health issues determined to be the highest priority to Orange County, were:
Access to Care
- Health Behaviors
- Health Equity
Findings from this CHA report will help influence strategic planning across the community. HCOC will assure broad dissemination of the full report so that entities contributing to the health of Orange County residents can develop new or modify existing programs, services, and resources to address the community health needs relevant to their stated missions.
Many efforts are underway to address the priority areas, but new initiatives are needed to respond to identified gaps. Progress will require total community involvement including grassroots movements, residents, government agencies and leadership, businesses, local service agencies, the university, hospitals, and health care, in order to improve the quality of life for people living in Orange County, particularly those who face racial, economic, emotional, financial, and physical hardships.
The Orange County Board of Health will develop their strategic plan based on the results from the CHA and the HCOC partnership will develop community health action plans. Together these plans will detail the steps needed to address the priority issues both at community and policy levels. Both will continue to engage in ongoing evaluation, and will encourage collaboration between agencies and community groups to achieve better health outcomes.
To find out how to become involved with work groups addressing the top health concerns in the county, please contact Ashley Rawlinson, Healthy Carolinians Coordinator at (919) 245-2440 or
arawlinson@orangecountync.gov.