Results from the Northwest Arkansas Community Health Survey indicate residents in the four-county area are most concerned about health issues related to obesity, diabetes, and mental health. Respondents ranked these issues as more important than drug use, cancer, aging problems, and child abuse/neglect.
Results show 33% of all respondents ranked obesity as the area’s No. 1 health concern. Mental health issues ranked second with 29% of all respondents, and diabetes was ranked third by 25% of respondents. Results were similar for respondents who identified as Hispanic, while 72% of Pacific Islanders ranked diabetes the area’s top health concern.
A group of 13 healthcare and public health agencies launched the survey last year to gather community input about the region’s greatest health-related needs. From June to October of 2018, surveyors collected 1,108 valid responses from residents in Benton, Carroll, Madison, and Washington counties.
Surveyors targeted residents from Hispanic and Pacific Islander communities and those groups made up 19% and 6% of respondents, respectively. White residents represented 71% of those surveyed, while other races made up smaller percentages of the sample.
“We encouraged all members of the community to complete the survey, but we also made an effort to reach people in our most underserved and vulnerable populations,” said Dr. Lisa Low, Mercy’s medical director of community health. “The survey results confirmed and validated the health needs our hospital has chosen to address in this next three-year Community Health Needs Assessment cycle: Access to care, Behavioral health, diabetes and obesity, and homelessness.”
Mercy will use the results to better inform and direct its community health efforts over the next three years. Other partners will use the results for health needs assessments efforts, grant writing purposes, and to better understand and care for the populations they serve.
Loy Bailey, administrator of the Benton County Health Unit, said the survey provides valuable information to all partners who participated.
“This four-county Community Health Survey was the first such undertaking since 2004. Information gained from the survey will help guide local healthcare providers as they work to identify key issues and how they may be best addressed,” he said.