The Union County Health Department is asking residents for their help in hitting a goal of 400 responses to a community survey launched in early November.
The survey can be taken online at www.uchd.net/community-survey. The survey is open through Dec. 15. Any Union County resident age 18 and older is encouraged to take the survey.
“We must collect at least 380 responses in order to make generalizations about health in Union County. The more surveys we collect, the more confident we can be when making general statements about local health issues,” said Mary Salimbene Merriman, lead epidemiologist at the Union County Health Department and chair of the Community Health Assessment committee. “If we don’t receive enough survey responses, then it is hard to make valid generalizations about what the data represents.”
The health department has received 320 responses as of Dec. 5. UCHD needs about 80 more to reach its initial goal.
“We need more responses from men and from people age 18-29 (men or women). From a geographic perspective, we’ve had a great response from the 43040 zip code, but are putting the call out to residents in all other zip codes within Union County,” Salimbene Merriman said.
The survey is estimated to take about 20 minutes to complete. The survey asks about a wide array of factors that influence health and health conditions such as diet, exercise, risk behaviors, mental health, substance abuse, health insurance, healthcare, and housing. The information collected is used by several local agencies for community health planning efforts and in seeking funding opportunities.
“The information residents provide is crucial to our various community organizations. What you say helps determine how local dollars are spent, what items become priorities to address over the next 3-5 years and strengthens efforts to secure grant funding for our community,” said Salimbene Merriman. “We appreciate the time and support of our residents on this project.”
The data collected through the survey will be used to create a community assessment report. This report will be available in the Spring of 2024 and will contain aggregate data from the community survey as well as data from local, state and national sources. The report will then help to inform the 2024-2027 Community Health Improvement Plan. The Community Health Improvement Plan will set objectives and strategies on how to improve the health and well-being of the individuals who live, work and play in Union County. The data and improvement plan will also be used by the Union County Health Department and partner agencies to seek future grant funding.
This year’s Union County community survey is financially supported by the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Union County, Union County Human Services and the Union County Health Department. Additional members of the community assessment workgroup include Bridges Community Action Partnership, City of Marysville, Division of Police, Council for Union County Families, Fairbanks Local Schools, Logan-Union-Champaign Regional Planning Commission, Maryhaven, Marysville Exempted Village School District, Memorial Hospital, North Union Local Schools, Union County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Union County Commissioners, Union County Emergency Management Agency, Union County Job and Family Services/Human Services, Union County Senior Services, Union County Sheriff’s Office, Union County YMCA, United Way of Union County and Wings Support and Recovery.
The community survey was last conducted by the Union County Health Department in 2018.
Those who would like to see a previous Community Assessment report should visit https://uchd.net/data-reports/.
Those who have questions about this year’s assessment, what it will be used for, or need assistance completing the survey, may contact Mary Salimbene Merriman at 937-645-2062 or mary.merriman@uchd.net.