Allegheny Well being Community has launched outcomes of its 2021-22 Neighborhood Well being Wants Evaluation, a research carried out to higher perceive the health-related wants of space residents.
Outcomes of the evaluation present that meals insecurity, substance use issues, obstacles to well being care entry, well being fairness, power circumstances similar to diabetes and pulmonary illness, and psychological well being and behavioral well being are among the many area’s most urgent neighborhood well being and wellness issues.
CHNAs consider the well being wants of the counties and municipalities served by a hospital, after which the hospital develops and implements plans and methods to enhance the general well-being of sufferers within the communities it serves.
The 2021-22 CHNA was the primary to be accomplished within the COVID-19 period. AHN says the report reveals a area nonetheless recovering from the pandemic, particularly relating to points similar to meals insecurity, workforce growth, habits well being entry and health-care inequity.
Kannu Sahni, Vice President of Neighborhood Affairs at Highmark Well being and Allegheny Well being Community, mentioned it’s important for AHN to deal with social determinants of well being and well being fairness (variety, fairness and inclusion).
“Hospitals have a look at coronary heart illness and most cancers, and different well being points, however we actually expanded it. We checked out these social determinants of well being, fairness and inclusion, realizing full properly for a neighborhood to have higher well being end result, all of these wants should be addressed,” mentioned Sahni.
Most of the issues recognized in AHN’s wants evaluation, similar to meals insecurity, have been ongoing. To handle ongoing meals insecurity points, for instance, AHN has opened hospital-based Wholesome Meals Facilities, the place sufferers can obtain wholesome meals and diet consultations.
Over the past three years, AHN has launched a number of applications aimed toward enhancing well being fairness and addressing social determinants of well being – the cultural, social and monetary and different non-medical obstacles that always forestall sufferers from receiving the care they want.
The CHNA additionally confirmed that psychological well being and behavioral well being entry are important issues for neighborhood members, particularly for kids and adolescents. Three years in the past AHN launched its “Chill Challenge,” a school-based psychological well being, mindfulness and resiliency program that locations counselors at dozens of faculties throughout the area.
The CHNA contains information on the wants of every AHN hospital facility, together with AHN Canonsburg.
Particularly, AHN Canonsburg’s targets are to deal with social determinants of well being, together with transportation, entry to care, substance use dysfunction, the power illnesses of diabetes and coronary heart illness, and well being fairness, and entry to major care physicians.
One in every of AHN Canonsburg’s plans is to carry well being gala’s, together with an upcoming well being truthful at Canonsburg Center College that’s within the works, to offer data and screenings associated to a number of well being points, in keeping with Keith Zimmer, Director of Volunteer Companies at AHN Canonsburg.
A latest well being truthful held throughout Canonsburg’s Oktoberfest celebration drew about 50,000 folks over three days, he mentioned.
AHN’s CHNA experiences will be considered at: https://www.ahn.org/about/caring-for-our-community/community-health-needs-assessment.html.
Washington Well being System and Penn Highlands Mon Valley launched the outcomes of its joint 2021 CHNA this summer season.
Among the many vital well being points recognized in Washington County are drug overdose deaths; coronary coronary heart illness; lung, breast and colorectal most cancers; COPD; stroke; suicide, and diabetes.
Primarily based on the findings of the evaluation, WHS and Penn Highlands Mon Valley have dedicated to deal with particular priorities.
WHS will prioritize lowering colorectal most cancers deaths and lung most cancers deaths, whereas PHMV will deal with habit, stroke deaths, diabetes-related deaths, breast most cancers deaths, and lung most cancers deaths.
“The findings from the most recent Neighborhood Well being Wants Evaluation usually are not stunning, and, principally they’re what we had been anticipating based mostly on the sufferers we’ve got been seeing at Penn Highlands Mon Valley,” mentioned Danyell Bundy, Director of Operations and Main Items for Penn Highlands Healthcare System Basis, which commissions the assessments for the well being system.
Penn Highlands Mon Valley has applied a number of applications to deal with these wants. For instance, the Neighborhood Care Community follows sufferers with COPD and offers them with ongoing training. Sufferers with diabetes can obtain diet counseling from the scientific diet and diabetes employees; and the Hahne Most cancers Heart treats sufferers with lung, breast and colorectal most cancers with the most recent therapies and state-of-the-art tools.
The well being system is setting up a devoted detox unit to deal with drug and alcohol use on the seventh ground of the hospital, which is predicted to open in spring of 2023.
Bundy additionally famous that individuals delayed their common screenings similar to mammogram and colonoscopies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Women and men have been coming again as a result of by means of advertising and training efforts, folks in our communities acknowledge the significance of early detection by means of screenings,” Bundy mentioned.
WHS Vice President of Technique and Scientific Companies Larry Pantuso mentioned the hospital will proceed to deal with different well being points, together with drug use dysfunction, meals insecurity and breast most cancers, because it focuses on colorectal and lung cancers.
“These different issues didn’t go away, however we do have sources in place to deal with them and can proceed to. We checked out (the CHNA) and mentioned there’s a plethora of issues that want addressed. Of these issues, what are these with the sources most obtainable to make an enormous distinction within the shortest period of time?” mentioned Pantuso. “Colorectal and lung most cancers are horrible, however early detection and therapy is a lifesaver. With colorectal and lung most cancers, colonoscopies and screenings can actually be a recreation changer for folks when caught early.”
He additionally inspired folks to go to their major care doctor, an necessary step in complete affected person care.
“No person ought to ever really feel like they don’t have a spot to show. Nothing can substitute the connection they’ve with their PCP, who can present them with a whole lot of data for his or her complete well-being, whether or not it’s their bodily or psychological well being,” he mentioned.
The CHNAs are accomplished by the well being programs each three years. The experiences relied on key stakeholder enter, interviews, surveys, and different information.
Pantuso inspired residents to fill out the CHNA survey in the event that they obtain one “so we will get an correct evaluation of what’s happening in the neighborhood.”
To view the WHS and Penn Highlands Mon Valley CHNA report, go to https://whs.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Community-Health-Needs-Assessment-Final-Report-2021.pdf.