The survey raises health concerns in the community

On the Child Health Summit, Cook Children's Center for Community Health shared important knowledge about the family and shared Children- Health needs in our communities.

The assessment of the Community Health Needs (CHNA) offers valuable insights from parents, supervisorsand community leader in our region Eight County Service: Collin, Denton, Grayson, Hood, Johnson, Parker, Tarrant, and wise counties.

More than a hundred executives from North Texas Community Organizations set up on May 6th for the first meeting of the two-part summit, During it, Cook Children explained the methodology of the survey and outlined important results. It is important to share these results because community organizations and managers can use this data to inform their strategies to further improve Children's health in their communities.

The most important priorities of part 1 were general health and well -being, asthmaPresent And healthy lifestyle. The You can find the complete assessment here And offers more detailed information on any data acquisition method used. You can find more tools for result envelopes in the Interactive data dashboard.

Additional findings that are specific for the support of the caregiver, the prevention of injuries, mental healthPresent And oral health is shared on June 3. [LP1]

Main problems

The evaluation comprised 6,877 parents/Nursing staff Answers in the past three years and 239 survey answers from community leaders such as representatives of health departments, non -profit organizations, schoolsPresent And groups -based groups.

The most urgent concerns for many families in our region are related to financial stressors.

Since the costs have increased in recent years, 45% of the community leaders have marked inflation and poverty as a serious problem in their community.

These fights affect the physical and mental health of children and families. In a survey, a caregiver said that they are concerned about paying medical visits in addition to other household costs. Community leaders found that they help many working families with food and clothingPresent and other needs.

Tobility of living space, food uncertaintyPresent And childcare costs increase the problems for our communities. More than half of the community leaders said that access to affordable, nutritious food is a serious problem.

General health and well -being

In interviews with supervisors and parents, insurance coverage was repeated. While the majority of children (88%) had continuous health insurance last year, 5% (approx. 54,700) had one Cover gap, And 7% (approx. 81,400) are currently not insured. Children who experienced homelessness were not insured three times more often.

The nurses said that the lack of coverage was mainly due to affordability, the respondents said. Families who did not speak English or Spanish said that the language barrier was another obstacle to insurance coverage, and they did not always know how to renew or update Your insurance.

The vaccination rates have decreased in our eight-land-89% of the parents and supervisors stated that their child had received all the current vaccines, which has been declining by about 8% since the 2021 CHNA.

asthma

One of ten children in the service area has asthmaPresent And it is one of the most common health states in children. In the eight county service areaPresent About 34% of children (approx. 390.100) live in households that cannot always afford to eat good, nutritious meals.

While asthma is manageable, 19% of these children had no asthma action plan. This shows a need for more education, Education, And support for nurses of children with asthma, including daycare centers, schools and aftercare programs.

Healthy lifestyle

A healthy lifestyle for children includes healthy weight, physical activity and nutritious foodPresent And appropriate sleep. Only 35% of the children in our area eat fresh fruits and vegetables with the recommended Crowd, And the majority of children (94%) spend more than two hours for entertainment every day.

While a healthy lifestyle benefits general health, many children and families have obstacles to it. Not everyone Can have access to nutritious foods in your neighborhood, and 1 out of 7 children do not live in an area where sidewalks, parks and playgrounds havePresent Or relaxation centers.

In the eight county service areaPresent About 34% of children (approx. 390.100) live in households that cannot always afford to eat well, nutritiously Meals and 21% of the children (approx. 236,400) Live in a household in which food brands or Snap advantages were raised last year.

SNAP offers families financial aid to buy nutrient food, but freings in this program have made families more difficult to get these advantages. The reduction of SNAP emergency allocations also contains the local food banks and community organizations to close the gap that is left by the reduced advantages.

Reduced advantages can lead to increased nutritional uncertainty, limit access to nutritious meals and negatively influence the health of families and children, which ultimately tightens social and economic inequalities.

Action calls

Based on the knowledge, the Cook Children's Center for Community Health identifies

Crucial next steps to improve children in our communities. One of these tactics is to promote more partnerships that focus on non-medical health drivers such as nutritional security and economic stabilityPresent and living space.

Cook Children's also plans to strengthen the cooperation to create more public relations for families, and support strategies that benefit our communitiesPresent And improve access to community resources for children.

You can find more detailed strategy plans Cook cooking session.

Related history

The survey raises health concerns in the community