Summit County residents only have until this Friday, May 31st, to fill out a Survey that will help the Health Department decide what programs should get their time and funding.
County Environmental Health Director Phil Bondurant said they’re hoping to get more responses to the Community Health Assessment. He said last week their goal is to get 750 respondents, and so far, they have had 575.
“This is a suggested approach or suggested exercised by the National Association of City and County Health Officials, that a community health assessment be done every five to seven years, Bondurant continued. “We've hit that five to seven year benchmark for a general public health community health assessment. This is different than the mental health assessment that was done in 2016. So, we're diving in. We want to see where we've improved, where we can improve, things that we can do better based on the previous one that was completed in 2012. Get an idea of what was important then, but what also is important now to the individuals that are living and working in our community.”
He said the responses have been lacking in some areas. He said three out of every four surveys have come from females, so he’d like to see some guys responding. For every two surveys completed from the Park City area, there’s one from the East Side. English respondents outnumber those in Spanish, four to one.
Bondurant said that analysis of the surveys has some concerning insights about the county’s messaging efforts.
“Things that we're hearing that are extremely interesting are all surrounded around our messaging,” Bondurant explained. “A lot of them are programs that we’re already doing, but apparently the community is not aware that these services are offered by the Health Department. Things like help with the program such as immunizations and those things. Everybody understands the health department does food inspections and that they provide immunizations, but I don't think the community generally understands this depth in which we're providing these services. So, it's been interesting. A lot of surveys have come in talking about empowering youth and providing them with tools to deal with drugs, peer pressure.”
You can take the survey here, or go in person to the County Health offices in Park City, Kamas or Coalville.
