Summer 2017 SAVI Online Magazine Emagazine Summer 2017 mn and ae edits - web | Page 5

Parkview Regional Medical Center it gathered more detailed data about them by conducting phone surveys and organizing focus groups with people who live in the communities. By analyzing hard data and incorporating community input, the team identified 13 major health issues in the region, including cancer, diabetes, the cost of healthcare, mental health, and sexually transmitted diseases. Next, it applied a method for ranking them that took into account the size of the problem, the seriousness of the problem, and the effectiveness of potential interventions. Last summer, the IN-PHC team presented its findings to executives from each of the Parkview Health hospitals, who then voted on which health issues to prioritize. Obesity was easily their first choice, followed by mental health, maternal and child health, drug abuse, and diabetes. Each hospital in the Parkview Health system also selected its own top priorities. “More than just a report” The challenges identified by the CHNA are well known to health experts, but the process of creating a formal assessment is useful, according to Ehinger, because it “helps us to focus and funnel all our activities into what the community believes is most needed.” The process is also valuable because it helps keep the issues in the public eye. “It’s very easy for us, as humans, to keep our heads in the sand,” says Sarah Wiehe, director of the Community Health Engagement Program at the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. “These are very challenging problems to address. A lot of them are interrelated, and they don’t have a silver bullet answer. Having a place to 5