As your businesses work to improve specific needs within our community, Mesa County Public Health aims to improve Mesa County’s health and wellness needs.

The Mesa County Board of Public Health recently approved the Community Health Improvement Plan at its regular March meeting. The plan follows the Community Health Needs Assessment and identifies specific priorities for action and progress over the next few years.

“The CHIP is step two in a three-year cycle of improving our community’s health,” said Alli Howe, Mesa County Public Health’s chief health strategist. “The first step was to assess the health status of Mesa County, and now we’ve identified priority issues with related activities to improve health outcomes.

“The final step of the health improvement cycle is to implement plans and track progress.”

From the eight priorities identified in the Community Health Needs Assessment, public health staff collaborated with community members and partners to determine the most pressing needs. Staff members analyzed nearly 400 individual contributions in the selection process for the priorities. The main priorities that were selected are economic stability and behavioral health.

While many people enjoy financial stability in Mesa County, others struggle to reach economic self-sufficiency. The median household income for female single parents is less than half of what is required for economic stability for a mother with a preschooler and school-aged child.

Household economic stability is an essential factor for positive health outcomes. Healthy behaviors depend on adequate financial resources to meet basic needs, access health care and nutritious foods, and ensure safe and healthy environments. In addition, many health outcomes improve as income and household economic stability increase.

Behavioral health impacts physical health in a cyclical way. Behavioral health is impacted by health behaviors, but it also can impact a person’s ability to pursue healthy choices. In addition, behavioral health challenges can lead to direct health outcomes, such as substance-use disorder and suicide crisis.

According to the 2022 Tell Us Community Survey, Mesa County residents, regardless of age or income, were overwhelmingly in favor of increasing support for mental health and substance-abuse services. Only 13 percent of residents agreed that Mesa County provides adequate support for these services, and 50 percent completely disagreed.

The Mesa County Public Health Data Team is developing a public-facing dashboard, which will allow the community to see long-term population metrics as well the progress of CHIP activities.

“Having a public-facing dashboard for our CHIP work will drive accountability into action,” said Alice Ireland, data and informatics manager. “The CHIP is a reflection of what our community finds important, and data transparency is important when it comes to tracking progress.”

Visit our website at mesacounty.us/public-health to view the full Community Health Improvement Plan and to learn more about how Mesa County Public Health is approaching economic stability and behavioral health within Mesa County.

Enhancing these critical areas for individuals facing challenges within Mesa County contributes to the overall advancement of the community as a whole, benefiting you and your employees.

Ryan Pomeroy is a multimedia communication intern at Mesa County Public Health.