Health assessments identify county’s top priorities

By Dr. Alex Craker, public health planner

It’s that time again – Chippewa, Dunn and Eau Claire counties, have recently completed Community Health Assessments, a series of reports done every three years. Now, we’re asking our community to explore the data and take action.

This new assessment tells us which health issues are of highest concern for people in those counties. Alcohol misuse and lack of access to childcare/unaffordable childcare, were among the top five health issues for all three counties.

We didn’t only investigate traditional health issues, like nutrition and tobacco use, we also looked at the things that impact people’s ability to be healthy – things like public transportation, which lets people access their doctor’s office or grocery store – and good local jobs, which let us afford healthy food and time to exercise.

We hope you’ll flip through your county’s report; you’ll find more data and insights there.

Chippewa County: bit.ly/2024 chipassessment

Dunn County: bit.ly/2024 dunnassessment

Eau Claire County: bit.ly/2024 ecassessment

You can also get involved! You’re strongly encouraged to join your local health coalition, groups that are working directly to tackle these issues.

Chippewa Health Improvement Partnership: chippewacountywi. gov/government/public-health/ chippewa-health-improvementpartnership

Health Dunn Right: healthdunn right.org

Eau Claire Health Alliance: echealthalliance.org

The community health assessments were conducted, in partnership, by the Chippewa County Department of Public Health, Dunn County Health Department, Eau Claire City-County Health Department, Sacred Heart Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Marshfield Clinic Health System, Mayo Clinic Health System, United Way of Dunn County and United Way of the Greater Chippewa Valley.