PPH assessing inland communities' health needs

By: ANDREA MOSS - Staff Writer
Results could shape future health care programs | Wednesday, January 2, 2008 9:46 PM PST ∞

NORTH COUNTY -- Palomar Pomerado Health is asking local doctors, nurses, community leaders and others to weigh in on the health problems they're seeing, as part of an effort that could shape programs in inland North County.

The public hospital district is in the middle of a monthlong Community Health Needs Assessment. Several hundred people have been asked to complete a 14-question survey by Jan. 18.

Tina Pope, director of community outreach and development for the district, said Wednesday that Moder Research & Communications of San Diego, an independent firm, will combine survey responses with demographics, health statistics and other data obtained from the county Department of Health Services and other sources.

The district is paying Moder about $10,000 to conduct the assessment, which is modeled after one the district commissioned from the firm in 2005.

As they were the first time around, assessment results will be broken down by city, income, age and other variables. Pope said the findings will identify the most-pressing health needs in each inland community.

Palomar Pomerado, community health clinics, and numerous other agencies will use the information to set their own program priorities, she said, citing obesity as an example of a potential health concern.

"They can look at the data and see what it says about childhood obesity, the breakdowns by age, and those kinds of things," said Pope. "It allows them to say, 'OK, here is the key issue.'"

The 2005 assessment was the first of its kind for the district. The initial study's findings included some surprises, including lower rates of health insurance coverage for residents of Escondido (80 percent of adults and 82 percent of children), compared to people living throughout the district's 800-square-mile service area (86.6 percent of adults and 88.9 percent of children).

The 2005 results also showed that North County Latinos had a higher rate of diabetes (8.2 percent) than the rate for the county as a whole (5.4 percent), and that heart disease and stroke were the leading causes of death in many inland communities, but cancer topped the list in Poway.

Other 2005 findings showed North County health care agencies were on track in terms of the programs they were offering -- something Pope said was also important.

Palomar Pomerado has partnerships with several nonprofit organizations that operate community medical clinics within the district. The list of partners includes Neighborhood Healthcare, which runs 11 sliding-fee-scale medical centers around the county, including sites in Escondido, Pauma Valley and Poway.

Neighborhood Healthcare Executive Officer Tracy Ream said her organization works closely with three of the five community groups that advise Palomar Pomerado about its programs.

"So we're quite familiar with it," Ream said about the health needs assessment. "It really helps us set an agenda and provides some focus for the communities in the next year so that you can address what are at least perceived as the major issues."

Pope said the district expects to receive the results of the new health needs assessment in the next couple of months.

The 2005 results can be found online at http://www.pph.org/default.aspx?nd=693.

-- Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.