CHSA: Peoria, IL Vignette
Community Health Status Assessment
The Peoria City-County Health Department (PCCHD) in Illinois serves a total population of approximately 130,000. In response to the Illinois Project for Local Assessment of Needs (IPLAN), PCCHD conducted an internal organizational assessment and a community assessment process in 1992.
In January 1993, the county's board of health appointed a 15-member Community Health Needs Assessment Committee (CHNAC) to help develop a community health plan. In May, CHNAC met for the first time and approved the following statement as its purpose: "To identify, assess, and prioritize the health needs of Peoria County residents." The final product would be a plan with strategies for addressing the community's priority health issues.
PCCHD advised the committee that data were available that related to the health department's identified problems. A nominal group process was selected to identify the perceived needs within the community. The health problems identified by statistical measures were provided to the committee and integrated with the perceived needs and prioritized community health problems.
CHNAC recommended additional community input into the process. The committee identified and surveyed 25 social service agencies to ascertain what they perceived as the most important community health needs. Using the data, the committee perceptions, and the agency survey, CHNAC identified 12 health problems, conducted a prioritizing process, and produced the following four highest-ranked community health problems.
The health officer and the board of health independently identified positive results within PCCHD, which included increased appreciation for other staff and programs, and greater confidence in their work responsibilities and environment. In the community, results included improved communication with partners, new services (family planning in a community hospital), and improved relations with the board of health.