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Davis Journal

Davis4Health community health improvement collaborative seeks residents’ input

May 06, 2022 12:17PM ● By Becky Ginos

DAVIS COUNTY—In a 2022 County Health Rankings report that was recently released, Davis County was named as the 4th healthiest county in the state and healthiest along the Wasatch Front. 

“It’s based on how we work, learn, live and play,” said Isa Perry, Health Strategy Manager, Davis4Health Coordinator, Davis County Health Department. “It’s not just behavior. It’s also about social, emotional wellbeing, physical environment and economic factors. They take data from a lot of different things. We’re also doing really well compared to the nation.”

There are still areas to explore and improve on, she said. “A lot of times our best score/ranking is in things like child poverty, single parent homes and high school completion rates.”

The report shows that the county measures worse than the state average for diabetes prevention, obesity, physical activity and alcohol-impaired driving deaths. 

“There are new measures not taken into account such as social stability,” Perry said. “We look at equality in income, COVID measures, reading scores, segregation and gender pay gaps. We’re trying to dive deeper. We know there are inequities in income and racial differences in health outcomes. We’re trying to get to the root cause because we know disparity exists.”

To address some of these issues, a Davis County community health improvement collaborative, Davis4Health, was formed in 2012.

“All the community partners from many sectors convene to talk about our top priorities and address them together,” said Perry. “We pick effective policies and programs that can help with community health improvement goals and include those in the countywide strategic plan.”

 The partners work together on things identified and give an annual progress report, she said. “We celebrate successes, report on how it’s going and if we achieved what we intended to do. Working in concert is more likely to be effective so we’re not duplicating and making better use of our resources to work together for the good of the community.”

Many sectors and agencies are involved, said Perry. “Schools, Weber State, DTC, healthcare partners, human services, city leaders, faith based representatives and mental health providers. There are more than 60 partners that have been involved.”

The DCHD serves as the backbone agency, she said. “We only do work guided by the community. Without the community the work can’t be done.”

Perry said in the 2023 health assessment they want to include the right data. “We want to gather the community’s voice and hear the lived experience from residents who feel underserved or under-represented in their community.”

Davis4Health is hosting two focus group sessions for residents to participate in called, “We want to hear your story.” “We welcome people where English is not their first language, those with disabilities, or are struggling to make ends meet, those who have experienced substance abuse or mental health issues to join us for our focus groups,” said Perry. “We want to hear from residents who often don’t have a voice and about what they’re experiencing.”