Naples, Fla.—The Florida Department of Health in Collier County (DOH-Collier) is pleased to announce the release of the 2016 Community Health Assessment (CHA) – a comprehensive report that identifies priority issues related to the health and wellbeing of the residents of Collier County. The goal of the CHA is to develop strategies to address the community’s health needs and identified issues.

The 2016 CHA identified the top five priority health areas in Collier County as chronic diseases, mental health, access to care, alcohol and drug abuse, and obesity.  Other health areas identified were the health of the elderly, communicable diseases, disabilities, dental health, and unintentional injuries. The approach used to attain these priority areas was a strong collaboration with private and public partners, community engagement, data collection, and data analysis.  This process would not have been possible without the partnership and support of the NCH Healthcare System.

DOH-Collier Administrator Stephanie Vick says the information gathered in the assessment will be used by our community to make informed decisions and direct efforts to improving the health and wellbeing of the residents of Collier County.  “The Community Health Assessment is an essential public health tool used to understand the health needs in our community and how we can continue to make Collier County a healthy place to live, learn, work and play.  Through this document we will work collaboratively with our community partners to address these health needs and create a plan to use our resources for the greatest benefit for our residents.”

The Community Health Assessment can be found at https://collier.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/community-health-planning-and-statistics/public-health-information/_documents/communityhealthassessmentsum.pdf. 

The CHA highlights the findings of four assessments that were completed to gather information for improving the health of our community.  These four assessments – Community Themes and Strengths Assessment, Local Public Health Assessment, Community Health Status Assessment, and Forces of Change Assessment – are part of the community health improvement process used to improve the local public health system and to guide our health planning process.  All of the assessments and related documents can be found at https://collier.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/community-health-planning-and-statistics/public-health-information/.

About the Florida Department of Health

The department, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.