Healthy Blair County Coalition Holds Annual Meeting

The Healthy Blair County Coalition held its annual meeting on Friday, July 8, at the United Methodist Church in Hollidaysburg. The purpose of the meeting was to go over what the Coalition offered and give a brief overview of the "Blair County Profile 5: Community Health Needs Assessment."

The Healthy Blair County Coalition was formed in 2007 when the Blair County Human Services office and United Way invited key officers to join in on making a needs assessment for the community. The Coalition also had two more needs assessments since the beginning of 2012 according to their website.

The point of the Coalition is to assess needs in the county and then take actions to help prevent issues or solve those issues.

"Health of the community is more than just physical health," Coleen Heim, the director of the Healthy Blair County Coalition, said. "We also assess mental, emotional, and economic health."

"We use a collective impact model which means that we have a common agenda with our partners," Heim said. "Together we create an umbrella organization and the HBCC works as that umbrella."

Last year's assessment

The assessment was conducted last year, but the results and assessment were shared and released on Friday. The Coalition gave out 3,000 random surveys to households and got 248 responses for an 8.3 percent response rate. The Coalition also had the survey on its website, and according to Heim, 100 people accessed the survey that way.

The Coalition also gave out 200 key informant surveys, which were local leaders in the community. They got 56 responses out of the 200 that were given. They gave out 172 surveys to service providers and received 37 responses.

There were 16 responses from faith-based surveys and interviewed health care providers.

"This assessment needs to focus on the strengths and challenges of the community," Heim said.

The needs assessment focused on the community as well as individual households.

Overuse and addiction to cell phones was the biggest concern that was identified in the community, something that Heim said was surprising to her. Going back to 2007, that issue did not crack the top five issues until 2018. The top concern identified by households was stress, anxiety and depression, according to the HBCC.

This sentiment remained relevant as inpatient and outpatient mental health services for adults were identified as one of the greatest gaps in health care services in Blair County. This was also identified as an issue by the Key informants and service providers.

Of the faith-based surveys, 57.1 percent stated that more mental health services for adults were needed. However, the surveys showed that they believed dental care was the greatest health care gap in the community.

HBCC helps

The Healthy Blair County Coalition looks to promote a healthier lifestyle and help Blair County address the needs and issues they mentioned in the surveys. Since the HBCC started focusing on the community, Blair County has gone from the 63rd healthiest county in Pennsylvania to the 39th.

Issues that the HBCC is looking to help with and address are obesity, alcohol and substance abuse, mental health needs, smoking, tobacco, e-cigarettes and vapes, and poverty.

According to the survey, these issues will continue to be addressed through community intervention that will improve social, economic and environmental factors.

The HBCC will utilize what it calls "collective impact." According to the assessment, there are five conditions for collective impact, which are "a common agenda, shared measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication, and backbone support."

The HBCC will continue its work in the community and improve the lives of those who live in Blair County.

"We will develop programs and strategies to meet the needs that have risen to the top," Heim said.