Wake County and its community partners have identified the issues they will focus on to improve the health and wellbeing of county residents over the next three years.

From March 2018 through April 2019, more than 100 agency and community partners collaborated to complete the 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment. This assessment examines the overall health needs of residents and allows county stakeholders to evaluate how best to improve and promote the health of the community.

The five focus areas identified as county-wide priorities are:

• Transportation options and public transit;
• Employment;
• Access to care;
• Mental health/substance use disorders; and
• Housing and homelessness.
   

“As our county continues to evolve and grow, we must ensure

that we’re taking the right steps to address the needs of all of our residents,” said Wake County Commissioner Susan Evans. “Through our partnerships and community support, we’ve successfully identified the areas we should focus on to make this a reality.”

Every three years, counties across the nation are required by the federal government to assess the health needs of their communities through the Community Health Needs Assessment process. In the off years, counties must issue a State of the County Health Report with updates on progress made toward reaching the goals of the assessment.

To avoid the duplication of efforts among agencies in Wake County, this assessment was created in collaboration with:

• Advance Community Health;
• Alliance Health;
• Duke Raleigh Hospital;
• UNC REX Healthcare;
• United Way of the Greater Triangle;
• Wake County Human Services;
• Wake County Medical Society Community Health Foundation;
• WakeMed Health and Hospitals; and
• Youth Thrive.
   

Moving forward, the process will be combined with recommendations from the Population Health Task Force, through a county-wide health initiative called Live Well Wake. This program brings together the county’s major health organizations and community members to address the needs identified. Action steps and measures of success will be developed with partners and stakeholders, using a results-based accountability methodology.

Although the report is done, staff and volunteers will develop action plans and strategies in the coming months to address the identified priorities. Progress on the initiatives in the report will be tracked by Live Well Wake and be updated on their website.

A full summary of the assessment and priorities can be found by visiting wakegov.com/wellbeing.