Paris, Tenn.–Henry County Medical Center, with collaboration from other local health professionals and stakeholders, is working on a road map to health for the people of Henry County, identifying significant health needs, goals, priorities and resources. Henry County Medical Center has launched a comprehensive Community Health Needs Assessment, which will provide the foundation for improving and promoting the health of each community member.
HCMC will be reaching out to community members to form focus groups to be held on July 19 form 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Local residents will be asked to assess their health, the perception of the community’s health and what changes they would like to see. That insight, along with the data, will be used to set priorities for community health improvement.
“The listening sessions will be looking at what the concerns are as seen through the eyes of the residents of Henry County,” said Interim CEO Brad Bloemer.
A Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) is a systematic collection, analysis, and dissemination of information about the health of the community. Its role is to identify factors that affect the health of a population and determine the availability of resources with the community to adequately address those factors.
CHNAs are required for not-for-profit Henry County Medical Centers as part of health care reform legislation. The assessment is expected to be finalized by the end of December. A report of the results will be presented to the community.
“Guided by the results of this important community assessment, we can have a more complete understanding of the health needs of this community which will help us focus our resources on how to improve health,” Bloemer said.
HENRY COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER’s CHNA will use both existing and new data to assess local health needs and include the information in future planning of services offered within the community. Some of the data has already been collected through previous local, state and federal public health organizations. HENRY COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER is using a partner, Stratasan to collect, quantify, and interpret the data.
The information and data are being gathered by Stratasan. The results will be shared with HENRY COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER’s board of directors and administration, which will be followed by a community health summit. The summit event is intended to focus on our citizens[‘ suggestions for improvement of health and wellness. Tentative date for this event is Sept. 1.
“Our community assessment is not meant to produce a document that gets shoved onto a shelf to gather dust,” Bloemer said. “It is meant to create the foundation of an action plan to help us truly improve the lives of the people in our community.”
Interested in participating? Listening sessions will occur on July 19 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during one-hour sessions. If you are interested in participating, you can call the HCMC FindLine at 731-644-3463 or call Tory Daughrity, Director of Marketing and Public Relations at 731-644-8266 or email her at tdaughrity@hcmc-tn.org. A wide representation of the community will be asked to participate.