(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center, in collaboration with numerous community partners, announces the release of the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) report.

According to Mischa Chernick, CHNA project lead and Marketing and Communications Manager for PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center, “For years health care has focused on treating illness and individual episodes of care. At Ketchikan Medical Center we are deeply committed to transforming our how we deliver health care to our community and begin focusing more on keeping people healthy.”

The Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) is a true example of community collaboration. Successfully addressing community health needs is an opportunity for community partnership and engagement. Though the Affordable Care Act requires all nonprofit hospitals to conduct a CHNA every three years and to make the findings publicly available online, PeaceHealth sees at this process not as a requirement to meet, but as a natural expression of its mission and values to help identify and serve the health needs of people in each community.

One key finding, common in all the communities that PeaceHealth serves, is the reality that too many people do not have health insurance. With the advent of health care reform, there is an opportunity to improve access. This is just one area that PeaceHealth will begin working with community partners to help let people know about all the opportunities to enroll in no or low cost insurance options.

Some other findings identified:

• Higher than average rates of death due to cancers, diabetes, stroke and chronic lower respiratory disease. These high death rates from these diseases are directly associated with various factors including nutrition, activity/exercise and stress.
• Smoking rates in the Service Area communities are higher than that of Alaska, and Native women are more likely than other women to smoke while pregnant. Overall, the rate of smoking in Alaska is higher than the national rate. The rates of smoking within the service area are even higher, particularly in Prince of Wales. In addition, there is a large American Indian/Alaskan Native population in the service area and Native women are more likely to smoke while pregnant.
• Residents overwhelmingly are not meeting fruit and vegetable consumption recommendations. Fewer than 30% of residents are consuming the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. This places them at risk for a host of health conditions, including obesity and many types of cancer, and residents are more likely than Alaska residents to be obese.
• Substance abuse is a major concern in the service area. – Community members identified substance abuse as a pressing concern, a situation made worse by the lack of substance abuse resources and services. The community also experiences many ill effects of substance abuse. Data indicate that especially for Ketchikan Gateway, heavy consumption of alcohol is common

“As we begin working to meet the specific needs identified in our community, we will continue to rely upon the partners who have been collaborating with us on this project,” explained Chernick. “Together we can do more to promote health and wellness in our community than any of us can do on our own.”

Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

On the Web:

Download the Community Health Needs Assessment (37 pages)
http://www.peacehealth.org/Documents/CHNA-PHKMC-2013.pdf

Source of News: 

PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center
www.peacehealth.org/ketchikan

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