Category: Announcements || By Submitted Report

The Allegheny County Health Department is conducting a community health assessment and seeking input from the public to help identify the most important factors affecting the health of county residents.

"The health assessment is part of our effort to pursue national accreditation and a critical first step toward making Allegheny County the healthiest county in America," Health Director Dr. Karen Hacker said.

The public can provide its input on the selection of health indicators to be used in the health assessment by visiting the Health Department's web site, www.achd.net/survey.html, from now until June 30.

Participants will be asked to select the 10 most important health indicators and rank them from one to ten. There are 43 health indicators to choose from and a section for specifying health concerns not listed.

Names of participants are optional, but zip codes are requested to ensure geographic balance.

"The selected indicators will be used to measure the health of our communities and a standardized approach will allow us to compare our communities to one another and to the county, state and nation," said Dr. LuAnn Brink, Chief Epidemiologist, who is leading the community health assessment process.

The findings will be shared with community members at public meetings later this year. Based on the collected data and public input, a community health improvement plan will be developed that prioritizes issues, implements strategies and establishes accountability to ensure measurable health improvements.

"The community health assessment is a critical component of good public health," Hacker said. "It will help the Allegheny County Health Department and the residents of Allegheny County work together to develop and move toward a vision to make Allegheny County the healthiest in the nation."