Springfield-Greene County Health Department unveils 3 priority issues

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Springfield health leaders unveiled its three health priorities for the community on Thursday.

Springfield-Greene County Health, CoxHealth, and Mercy Springfield released the 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment for Greene, Christian, and Webster Counties. They created the assessment using health care, public health, and community input data to assess the health issues in the southwest Missouri region.

The report identified the priorities like mental health, substance use and recovery, and diabetes.

“As we continue to see low COVID-19 numbers, less severe illness, and fewer hospitalizations, we can look for some silver linings from the past few years,” said Springfield-Greene County Health Department Director Katie Towns. “In other communities, leadership became fragmented and broke down under the pressure of the pandemic, but not here. As things got difficult, our leadership came together to do what was necessary to save lives. We have taken lessons away from the response that allows us to realign priorities when necessary and to be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances. Now, we can get back to many of the other needs in our communities and preview where our focus will lie over the next three years.”

The 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment is available online at ozarkshealthcommission.org. Springfield-Greene County Health, CoxHealth, and Mercy Springfield will utilize this resource to create Community Health Improvement Plan to address these issues. Once approved by the Healthy Living Alliance advisory board, the health department’s plan will be released later this year to establish goals for the next three years.

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