GRDHD hosts community health assessment forum

May 23—The Green River District Health Department invited local health coalitions and citizens from the Owensboro and Daviess County area Monday to its community health assessment forum at the Logsdon Community Center to discuss concerns negatively influencing the health status of the district.

Previously, GRDHD conducted a similar health assessment and improvement process back in 2018 seeking feedback and input from both residents and community partners about how to continue making positive strides and address current and recent issues.

"We're not starting from scratch," said Clay Horton, GRDHD's public health director. "There's been a lot of good work in the community."

Jonathan Vorbeck, MPH, facilitator for the forum and visiting assistant professor for the department of public health and clinical sciences at Eastern Kentucky University, said the community status assessments — which consisted of a 27-question survey available for people to fill out in all of GRDHD's seven-county coverage area from March 27 to May 8 — were completed by a total of 485 participants.

Out of the 103,222 residents residing in Daviess County as of the July 2022 estimate, a total of 116 people completed the assessment.

Horton said the purpose of the forums, which will take place in all seven counties in the health district, gives people the opportunity to hear and see the compilation of the data, while also having the chance to "react and provide ... input" before moving forward with taking "incremental steps to improving the health of our community."

During the first part of the forum, Vorbeck said the top three concerning health problems reported in the county were mental health problems (64%), overweight/obesity (51%) and overdose (21%).

According to the data, 18% of adults reported 14 or more days of mental health distress per month in 2020 — on par with the state average but 4% more than the U.S. average. The average number of mentally unhealthy days that were reported in the past 30 days in 2020 was 5.8 in the county, which was 0.3 more than Kentucky and 1.4 more than the national average.

Rebecca Horn, GRDHD's accreditation coordinator and public health service manager, highlighted that in the case of adult obesity, 40% of the adult population in the county had a body mass index (BMI) considered obese, according to the American Heart Association.

The state average was reported to be 37% while the national average was 32%.

"There's a lot of work being done, but ... there is a lot of work that we need to do," Horn said. "We're blessed with a lot of parks (and) recreation (spaces) in Daviess County, but we're still behind the state and the United States."

The number of overdose deaths in the county from 2014 to the present has ranged from 33 deaths in and gradually growing since, with an increase of deaths reported in 2022 with 67 deaths.

To date in 2023, 13 overdose deaths have been reported according to Vorbeck.

Other areas of concerns discussed included leading causes of death for people under the age of 75, which Vorbeck said malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumors) ranked No. 1 followed by heart disease and chronic lower respiratory diseases at No. 2 and 3 respectively between 2018 to 2020.

Another area of concern regarding health behaviors included adult smoking, which saw 22% of adults reporting to be smokers in 2020 — equal to the state average but 6% more than the national average.

Horn said while efforts have been made regarding lowering the smoking rate, "we will have a long way to go" particularly when it comes to the rise in use of electronic cigarettes and vaping.

"We still have that epidemic going," she said.

In the second part of the presentation, Vorbeck presented the findings of the risk factors with the greatest impact on the county's health — with substance misuse ranking at No. 1 with 51%, followed by poor eating habits (28%) and lack of a livable wage (27%) rounding out the top three.

However, positives were highlighted throughout the forum.

According to the data, Daviess County ranked at No. 16 out of the 120 counties in the state for 2023 health outcomes — indicating it "among the healthiest counties in Kentucky" while 48.3% of the 116 respondents of the community status assessment reported their health was in "good" standing and 29.3% responding "very good" based on rankings ranging from "excellent," "very good," "good," "fair" and "poor."

Additionally, the community status assessment results reported 51.70% of the 116 respondents said they were "living comfortable" when asked about financial well-being, while the topic of home-ownership reported 68% of owner-occupied housing units were present in the county between 2017-21 — equal to the state average and 3% higher than the national average.

Regarding individual current housing situations, 96.6% of the 116 respondents reported having housing.

Throughout the forum, members of the audience were also encouraged to have discussions in small groups regarding questions such as efforts being made regarding health equality, strength and resources the community has to support health and well-being and more.

The forums, which kicked off Monday morning in Hancock County, will continue in Webster and Union counties Tuesday, McLean and Ohio counties on Wednesday and will conclude in Henderson on Thursday.

Feedback shared at these forums will be gathered to develop initiatives and goals for the full and completed community health improvement plan, which is expected to be publicly available by July 15 by GRDHD to help "plan for a healthier future."