Help Jefferson Hospital determine community’s health needs through survey

Jefferson Hospital is looking for area residents to fill out a survey that will help identify and prioritize its community’s health care needs and thereby map the hospital’s strategic plan for the next three years. 

Every three years the hospital conducts a Community Health Needs Assessment that aims to identify both the community’s needs as well as barriers to healthcare, vulnerable populations, local assets and resources, then lay those beside what the community itself says it prefers. 

During the last survey, the four primary needs were access to care, mental and behavioral health/substance abuse, adolescent health and lifestyle/obesity.  

In August of 2021 the hospital opened a new 11,000-square-foot Center for Behavioral Health that was a response to the needs it saw in the community and surrounding area. By midsummer 2022, the hospital hopes to open intensive outpatient services in that new center.  

"The survey helps us to know what we can do to help our community as we look forward at plans for the future,” said Jessica Guy, Jefferson Hospital Assistant Administrator. “During the last two surveys mental and behavioral health and access to care have been two of the major issues discussed.” 

The hospital continues to look for ways to improve access, whether it be for ways to take services to community members who lack transportation to get to the hospital’s main campus in Louisville or its clinics in Wrens and Wadley, Guy said. 

“Since the last survey we have seen COVID and have not been able to address everything we would have liked,” she added. “We want to look at getting health education out to the community by going out to the churches, civic organizations, the schools...being out there instead of asking people to come in for education sessions." 

In years past the needs assessment was built using a combination of surveys and community meetings. The current pandemic has also led to this year’s assessment being primarily virtual. The survey can be found online at https://georgiasouthern.co1.qualtrics.com/.../SV... or by accessing the QR code printed with this story. 

“If for some reason you cannot access the digital or online version, contact us and we will get you a paper copy of the survey,” Guy said. “It takes, at most, 10 minutes to complete.” 

The survey asks satisfaction questions regarding the community, the hospital and the availability of health care, issues affecting the quality of life, as well as more detailed questions regarding opinion on contributing causes of illness, disease and death in the community, the impact of COVID and more. 

Guy said that they are hoping to collect at least 150 surveys by June and as last week were at 48. Once collected, Jefferson Hospital’s partner Georgia Southern University’s Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health will compile and analyze the data collected. Once the results are presented the hospital can then work with the local health department, school system and other stake holders to develop a plan to address the major concerns identified. The implementation strategy will need to be approved by the hospital authority by November. 

“We always incorporate what we have identified within the survey into our strategic plan,” Guy said. “We have a core group here at the hospital who develop an implementation plan once we have the analyzed survey results. This helps plan for the future of the hospital.” 

For more information on the survey or to request paper copies of the survey, contact Guy at jguy@jeffersonhosp.com or 478-625-7000 ext. 1205.