Email Subscription

To sign up for email updates from Macomb County or to access your subscriber preferences, please enter your email address. If you would like to subscribe for text alerts please select Text Updates in the drop-down menu.

Community Health Assessment
Health Department
(586) 469-5235

Priority Areas

 

After completing the four assessment for the CHA, the steering committee reviewed themes and priorities that emerged from each of the four assessments.  From there, the steering committee decided on four priority areas.  After identifying these priority areas, the committee worked to identify goals, objectives, actions and measures which will be used to implement the CHIP.

Information on objectives and tracking measures for the priority areas can be found under CHA/CHIP Resources.

Chronic Disease and Healthy Lifestyle

A decrease in chronic disease and an increase in healthy lifestyle behaviors is essential to a healthy community. Chronic disease and a healthy lifestyle can often be viewed as having an inverse relationship and the rise of healthy lifestyle education and application within a community could result in a decrease of chronic disease (obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer).  Results from the Community Health Survey demonstrated that chronic disease continues to be a top priority amongst survey respondents.  Results from the CHA also indicated a need for improvement when compared to the state and national benchmarks in chronic diseases and healthy behaviors.  Both Macomb County residents and supporting data confirms that chronic disease and a healthy lifestyle continue to be a major health concern for Macomb County.

GOAL: Promote health and reduce chronic disease risk in Macomb County
  • Objective 1: By 2021 reduce the proportion of Macomb County adults who engage in no leisure-time physical activity from 30% to 25%.
  • Objective 2: By 2021 reduce the proportion of adults who are considered obese/overweight based on BMI from 33.1% to 30%.

 

Behavioral Health

Behavioral health is often used as an umbrella term, and refers to mental, behavioral or addictive disorders.  It includes not only promotion of well-being, but also includes prevention and intervention in substance abuse or other addictions.  When asked to identify health concerns other than chronic disease survey respondents identified mental health as a priority (53.2%).  When combined with drug/substance abuse, the behavioral health priority area was deemed absolutely essential to creating a healthier community.  By educating community partners on early identification of behavioral health conditions, increasing awareness of public health behavioral services and decreasing the number of tobacco-using Macomb County residents, behavioral health improvement will be brought to the forefront of health priority in Macomb County.

GOAL: Improve behavioral health for all residents by expanding access to prevention, intervention and treatment services.
  • Objective 1: Increase early identification of behavioral health risk factors by 2021.
  • Objective 2: Increase awareness of public health behavioral services by 2021.
  • Objective 3: By 2021 decrease the percentage of Macomb County residents who use tobacco from 21.4% to 18%.

 

Access to Services

Access to many different health-related services was a prominent and recurring theme during completion of the Community Health Assessment, specifically throughout the Community Themes and Strengths Assessment (CTSA) and the Forces of Change Assessment (FoCA).  Increased access to affordable healthy food, access to housing, access to healthcare, and access to more jobs were selected as priority areas that would increase the quality of life for residents, as well as improve overall health for Macomb County.  Utilizing results obtained from the CTSA team and completed surveys and data from the CHA, Access to Services was summarized as a central theme with a focus on increasing knowledge and utilization of services that are already available in Macomb County.  Unique strategies must be developed and executed in order to capitalize on the community’s strengths and to develop the areas where Access to Services can be improved. With the future of the Affordable Care Act uncertain, now more than ever, residents need education on health insurance and services accessible to them. 

While Macomb County exceeds the benchmark in insured population as well as in the category of usual care provider selected, the county will continue to monitor these particular benchmarks and focus will remain on increasing knowledge of accessible resources and services.

GOAL: Increase knowledge of Macomb County resources and services.
  • Objective 1: Increase consumption of the daily recommended services of fruit and vegetables daily by 5% from baseline (43% fruits, 25.9% vegetables) for children, adolescents and adults by 2021 through educational programs and resources.
  • Objective 2: Improve the community’s capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health care decisions and engage in health promoting behaviors by 2021.
  • Objective 3: Improve coordination of referrals and services in Macomb County Health and Community Service agencies by 2021.
  • Objective 4: Improve capacity and utilization of affordable, preventive and integrated oral health services for underserved populations in Macomb County by 2021.

 

Social Determinants of Equity

The conditions in which residents live explain why some Macomb County residents are healthier than others.  Heath is affected by social and economic opportunities in our communities, workplaces and environment.  These can be called Social Determinants of Equity.  Addressing Social Determinants of Equity was selected as a priority area.  By collaboration with community stakeholders, these disparities can be identified and addressed.  The most basic of goals can be established to ensure that all services are accessible to the entire population of Macomb County and that these services are culturally and linguistically appropriate.

GOAL: Ensure health care services are culturally and linguistically appropriate.
  • Objective 1: By 2021, train 100% of Health Department staff in cultural competency and cultural humility.
  • Objective 2: Devise a collective strategy to assess and increase levels of health literacy among Macomb County Health Department staff, as well as increase staffs’ ability to address low health literacy and bridge knowledge gaps by 2021.
GOAL: Establish resources that create social and physical environments that promote good health.
  • Objective 1: By 2021, improve utilization of The Right Connection by 20%.