Organizers say the results will determine future health needs.
Frederick, Md. (KM) An online health survey is underway in Frederick County. It’s sponsored by the County Health Department Frederick Health Hospital and the Health Care Coalition.
Malcolm Furgol, the Executive Director of the Health Care Coalition, says the purpose of this survey is to learn about the health experiences of local residents, and develop ways to address local health needs in the future. “It takes about ten-minutes to go through the survey, to get through all the questions,” he says. “It attempts to get a comprehensive picture of people’s health experience in the last year.”
Furgol says it’s important for as many residents as possible to participate. “It’s important because this is your chance to share your experience with organizations that form the priority for how we attack and address public health issues over the next three year,”: he says.
One of the questions asked is how often did participants see their primary health care physician last year, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, “health experience behavioral health too how they’re feeling; as well as their level of exercise; the kinds food they’re eating. Basically, get a picture of their health experience holistically over the last year from our Frederick County residents,” he says.
The survey is available on line at www.FrederickHealth.org/CHNASurvey/, The deadline is August 11th at 12:00 midnight.
Furgol says other events will follow later this year. “We’ll also be doing some focus groups in the fall to get additional information on targeted populations. And that will then lead to a health summit where we will invite the community to join us in looking through the data, and identifying what are the top two to three health priorities we’re going to engage in over the next two to three years,” he says.
This survey is done every three years, and Furgol says the results can lead to action when it comes to health needs in the community. . “It could be behavioral health, or it could be substance abuse, recovery. Past workers have worked on things like adult dental care which led to the opening of the adult dental clinic which Frederick Health runs,” he says.
Furgol says participants in this survey will remain anonymous. The only identifying information collected with the respondent’s zip code.
By Kevin McManus