Health Needs Assessments are Online!

Health Needs Assessments are Online!

We have completed and posted our health needs assessments on the county website, jeffco.mt.gov/.  Hover over the Services tab in the top left corner and scroll down to Public Health.  When you hover over Public Health you will be given the option to view the report in either Word 2007 (.docx) which is smaller but not everyone might have or Adobe (.pdf) which is larger and everyone should have.

The assessments in the report are broken up based on the information gathered and how it was collected.  To find information pertinent to your work or passion we have also provided a table of contents and an index.

Here's a direct link:

PDF - Jefferson County Health Needs Assessment

Survey Data is Up for General Public Use

Hello,
You may have noticed that we have a new page on our website. This page has collected data from the survey we sent out in Dec-Jan. We have created graphs, and weighted the data (except for a few exceptions) to more accurately reflect the population of the county. We have put up this data for community use, so that other groups may also use it to help improve their community. If you have any questions, or are looking for something that might not be posted, please contact us, and we will do our best to help.
And Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

Update

Hello everyone!,
So it's been a little bit since we have updated this blog. We had a few issues getting the survey out to the residents of the county, but we were finally able to get it sent out just before Christmas. We were worried about the response we would get with a shortened timeline, but we were pleasantly surprised. We got a response rate back of 12%, exceeding the expected response rate of 10%. Thank you to everyone who took the time to fill out this important survey!
We still have to analyze the results fully, but a few things that have stood out include...
-The top concerns for the County include-alcohol abuse, drug abuse, environmental human related, and youth activities
- 47.7% of household do not have a working carbon monoxide detector
-36.6% of reporters are not compliant with recommended health screenings for various reasons
-15.6% of reporters had their last physical checkup more than 2 years ago
-44.6% of reporters don't know what services the Jefferson County Health Dept provide.
-48.5% say they would exercise more if their were safer/more numerous walking paths or trails in their community.
More to follow later.
Next we are working to finish up our Community Themes and Strengths Assessment. We have interviewed several community members, and are finishing up our last interviews in the coming weeks. We are also trying to organize a photovoice project with the different elementary schools. This project serves to let those who typically don't have much of a say in their community, to share their opinions through powerful photos. We are still looking for participants in Clancy, Cardwell, and Basin. Please contact us if you think your child might be interested in this project, or want more information.

Have your voice heard!

As you can see, some changes have been made to our blog.  To the right of this post is our survey.  This survey can be filled out by Jefferson County resident, and all responses will remain ANONYMOUS and be used solely to improve the health in the county.

The survey takes about 5 minutes to fill out and will be used to make our county safer and healthier for our families and friends!

Some guidelines before filling out the survey: Only one person per household can fill this out, and we ask the adult with the next birthday to fill it out.  This will keep the survey valid and accurate.

Thanks to those that have already made your voice heard!  Don't forget to tell other about how important it is for them to be heard.  Have a wonderful holiday season everyone!

MAPP will be at the Christmas Bazaar

MAPP will be at the Christmas Bazaar this Saturday. We will be distributing a survey that will be sent to county residents, as well as being available to answer any questions about our project. Come stop by and see what we are up to!

Visioning Statement Update

Hi everyone!
With the help of strong, caring community members, we have finished crafting our Vision Statement for MAPP. This statement will serve as a focus point for our actions to address health in Jefferson County, as well as a source of inspiration.  Thanks again to everyone who put in time and energy to the wonderful focus groups as well as visioning committee.

A caring and compassionate community that is responsive to the county's citizens in a changing world, while maintaining the rich quality of life reflecting the rural essence of Jefferson County.

And we are in our final stages of developing a county wide survey. We expect these to go out sometime in the next two weeks. The more responses we get the better this survey will be, so please keep an eye out for it take the time to fill out this short survey.
Thanks!

The start of our vision statement.

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday we met with some county citizen's to fashion a vision statement for Jefferson County. This will serve to inspire and focus of the community health assessment. As we met folks from around the county several common themes emerged from these meetings.
* Keeping the rural flavor of Jefferson County-Many people move here to get away from the hustle and bustle of urbanized society so as we grow we should remain faithful to our roots.
* THE PEOPLE!-Every community identified how our citizens are friendly, involved in our community, and just overall caring people.
* Reaching out to all ages- People of all ages can benefit from programs and assistance to make it easier for people to be healthy

Taking some of these themes, we came up with this statement for the future of Jefferson County.

A caring and compassionate community that is responsive to the County’s Citizens in a changing world, while maintaining a rich quality of life reflecting the rural essence of Jefferson County

Let us know if you have any comments. We would love to year them.

We want to thank again everyone that put in their time and energy, as well as the wonderful businesses that sponsored us.  This process has given us as a community a chance to highlight and start a discussion on the different needs here.  There will always be more opportunities to help as we press forward to a healthier, safer, and greater Jefferson County; make your voice heard.