Health Partners Announce Results of 2024 Population Health Assessment, Invites Comments and Partnerships

QUAD CITY, Iowa/Illinois. (KWQC) – Community members are encouraged to provide feedback and join a partnership that improves the health of the Quad Cities.

The 2024 Community Health Assessment is a data-driven approach to determining the health status, behaviors and needs of residents in the Quad Cities area, according to a media release.

According to a press release, the study was sponsored by Community Health Care, Inc., MercyOne Genesis, Quad City Health Initiative, Rock Island County Health Department, Scott County Health Department, Trinity Muscatine Public Health and UnityPoint Health – Trinity.

The study is a continuation of similar studies conducted since 2002 and builds on a long history of collaboration.

The report’s data sources include telephone and internet surveys, regional focus groups and secondary data.

“Our collaborative health assessment process is the foundation for improving community health,” said Nicole Carkner, executive director of the Quad City Health Initiative (QCHI). “The new report will help us understand priority health issues based on information provided by community residents and develop plans to help address those issues. We invite all organizations in our community to partner with us to improve the health of Quad Cities residents.”

The report noted improvements over time, such as fewer Quad-Citians being unemployed, more people having dental insurance, and cancer death rates have decreased, according to a press release.

The Quad Cities area also fared better than the national average on certain indicators, including the percentage of adults who had a stroke, the percentage of people experiencing food insecurity and the percentage of those who had a routine health screening in the past year, it said in a news release for Media. .

Additionally, the release said the assessment identified “areas of opportunity” for Scott and Muscatine Counties, Iowa, and Rock Island County, Illinois.

“Initial conversations with community stakeholders have confirmed interest in three areas currently included in the county’s health improvement plans: mental health; access to health care; and nutrition, physical activity and weight,” says George Verastegui, administrator of the Rock Island County Department of Health.

“We will be working closely with community stakeholder committees formed in the four cities and in Muscatine to help us determine how we can make an impact,” says Jennifer Craft, director of public health for Trinity Muscatine Public Health.

“Since the 2021 assessment, healthcare partners have taken action on these priority healthcare issues,” said Pamela Samuelson, director of business planning and development, UnityPoint Health – Trinity. “We expect this new data will lead to new ideas for programs and community outreach.”

Partners are also currently supporting existing coalitions in the community that have formed to address health priorities, such as the Be Healthy QC Coalition, the Quad Cities Behavioral Health Coalition, and the Health Care Access Task Force.

“Our health is impacted by the economic disparities and inequalities in which people are born, live, work, play, worship and age,” said Brooke Barnes, deputy director of the Scott County Health Department. “Our mission is to address the broad community issues that contribute to poor health in our region through collaboration across sectors,” Barnes said.

“The collaborative community health assessment process and our work as a community coalition recognize the important role that all sectors play,” said Tom Bowman, CEO of Community Health Care, Inc.

With funding provided by MercyOne Genesis and UnityPoint Health – Trinity, the partners hired professional research consultants based in Omaha, Nebraska to conduct the survey, analyze the data and provide a comprehensive report, the release said.

According to the press release, the 2024 Community Health Assessment included a survey of 1,150 people in Scott, Rock Island and Muscatine counties, extensive secondary data analysis and collection of information from community members in focus groups held in the counties.

Qualitative data was collected by the study sponsors in collaboration with community stakeholder committee members and other community partners, the media release said.

The integrated process utilized best practices in assessment methodology and the purpose of the study was to provide comparative data at the state and national levels.

“We are proud to sponsor this assessment and hope that this report will become a resource for many local organizations,” says Ameya Kotwal, business development specialist at MercyOne Genesis. “We invite the community to share their views and encourage discussion about how we can improve health together.”

Representatives from partner health assessment organizations are available to answer questions, the media release said.

Community members are invited to provide feedback on the assessment report through a survey linked to at quadcities.healthforecast.net.

Organizations and individuals interested in joining the community coalition efforts can contact the Quad City Health Initiative at 563-421-2815.