Community Health Planning and Statistics

Community Health Planning and Statistics 

Community Health Planning
Florida Department of Health in Indian River County (DOH-Indian River) is committed to improving the health and wellness of those in Indian River County. Tools we utilize to assist in our improvement efforts include the Community Health Assessment for Indian River County (CHA), completed in 2020. The CHA is a comprehensive, county-wide assessment used to assess the health needs in Indian River County. This collaborative effort with community stakeholders and partners is part of an ongoing broader community health improvement process.

The 2022-2026 Indian River County Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), uses CHA data to identify priority issues. The plan is the product of continuous improvement through diverse partner engagement. A broad spectrum of stakeholders dedicated time, energy and resources to creating an actionable five-year plan for Indian River County with the hope of improving the quality of life of residents in Indian River County. The participation and dedication of these individuals, as advocates for their agencies and the populations they serve, brings tremendous value to the community health improvement planning process and through their collaboration with the Department of Health in Indian River and participation in working groups advances implementation of the action plans outlined in the CHIP.

In 2023, a new DOH-Indian River Strategic Plan was developed as a result of our community health planning endeavors. A Strategic Plan is used to communicate within an organization, the organization's goals and the actions needed to achieve those goals. In February 23, the DOH-Indian River Strategic Plan Final Annual Report was completed for the previous 2017-2022 Strategic Plan. It shows results of the goals outlined within the Strategic Plan. We continue to revise and use these plans to help guide our ongoing efforts to improve the health and wellness of those in our county.

Achieving Health Equity in Indian River County

"The World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Health Equity is the attainment of the highest level of health for all people. Persisting legacies of social problems such as structural racism are hampering the attainment of health equity, causing economic loss and most overwhelmingly the loss of human lives and potential."

“Race, Racism and the Policy of 21st Century Medicine”, Mia Keeys, Joaquin Baca and Aletha Maybank, Yale Journal of Miology and Medicine, (2021)

Florida Department of Health in Indian River County (DOH-Indian River), in partnership with our community partners, have developed a Health Equity Plan to address inequalities in education access and quality, health care access and quality, economic stability and issues with neighborhoods and built environments, commonly known as the social determinants of health.

DOH-Indian River is committed to improving the health and wellness of those in Indian River County. We utilize data to identify and focus on crucial issues affecting community health such as The Housing Crisis: A Public Health Issue.

Current efforts are focused on improving nutrition and access to healthy food, and with community partners, DOH-Indian River is working to raise awareness about the effects of Sickle Cell Disease on patients and their families and increase access to SCD care in Indian River County.

Assessing and Improving Walkability in Indian River County

In early 2018, Florida Department of Health in Indian River County, in partnership with the Environmental Learning Center (ELC), created a community-wide survey to assess the walkability of Indian River County. This collaboration is a product of the county Community Health Improvement Plan, which brings together community partners to address the greatest health concerns facing our community. One such concern is the epidemic of obesity and overweight, and the chronic diseases that stem from this growing problem. Increasing physical activity is one of the most important actions people can take to achieve a healthy weight and improve overall health. Often times, however, people find it difficult to maintain a minimum level of physical activity because many communities are not designed around pedestrians; in other words, they are not “walkable,” so residents find little opportunity to increase their activity levels. The results of this walkability survey will help identify barriers to walking and physical activity throughout Indian River County, find solutions to barriers, and can be used to craft new policies and recommendations with walkability as a priority.

Statistics
The Florida Department of Health Florida Community Health Assessment Resource Tool Set (FL Health CHARTS) webpage and Florida Environmental Public Health Tracking are excellent resources for Florida public health statistics and community health data, providing statistical data for a wide variety of health indicators in Florida, including:

• Communicable Diseases
• Chronic Diseases
• Maternal and Child Health
• Environmental Health
• Injury & Violence
• Social and Mental Health
• Health Resources Availability
• Population Characteristics
• Air and Water Quality
• Community Profiles
• Housing

Florida CHARTS also has county and state profile reports, community tools and data inquiries.  Visit FL Health CHARTS to find health data and statistics for your community.

*Note: This page contains materials in the Portable Document Format (PDF). The free Adobe Acrobat Reader may be required to view these files.