Empower. Collaborate. Align.
2024 Muskegon County
Community Health Needs Assessment
A Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) is an important way for a community to collaboratively identify and prioritize its health needs and come up with plans to meet them. By gathering information about a community's health, needs, and challenges, CHNAs give us a chance to really understand the place we live in, make sure everyone has the opportunity to reach their optimal health, and improve health and wellness for the community.
This involves working together with different people who care about the community and looking at data from now and before to see how things have changed. By focusing on specific groups in the community, like those who might struggle more with health issues, CHNAs make sure that the plans we make to improve health are fair and helpful for everyone.
Process
This community health needs assessment was developed as a community-driven, collaborative process. An executive committee was established to invite partner organizations to the table, oversee the process, and to determine how priorities would be determined.
A full committee, comprised of partner organizations, convened to:
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review data in their areas of expertise
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identify gaps and contribute data,
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decide on criteria for prioritization of health needs
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determine data indicators for inclusion
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identify key stakeholders to assist for each area of focus
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determine agreed upon health need priorities, with consideration for current efforts and opportunities for each priority area .