Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Josh Matthews
Benedictine University
Delaware County FOCA 2
Health behaviors, sexual health, and health services are clearly the most critical foci of
creating a healthy Delaware County. Statistically, the three areas are all outlined as the key areas
of concern of both citizens and health care findings as primary health deterrents regionally. In
utilizing a FOC assessment it allows us to break down the health deterrents (forces), the related
threats, and potential opportunities created for the healthcare community to address them.
Chronic disease risk factors have reached epidemic levels throughout much of the
country, and hold true for Delaware County. Despite being among the top healthies counties,
poor heathy behaviors are weakening our county. Much of the community is overweight (36.7%)
or obese (28.1%), and lack physical activity (21.8%) (DGHD, 2013). In line with the state of the
counties weight problem the Delaware General Health Department has also found that 23.8% are
smokers and 78.8% consume less than the recommended daily suggestion for vegetables.
Coupling this was the poverty, unemployment, educational, and rural setting it calls for a dire
need for change. In addressing healthy behaviors this can be broken down into two programs;
obesity and substance abuse. Health education and healthy living behavior awareness offers
many opportunities for hospitals, educational centers, groceries, fitness centers, schools, and
many other community stakeholders to become involved with the community. Substance abuse is
another much-needed focus of programs and community partners to address the serious problem
of unhealthy behavior within the county. Many not for profit, advocacy, and support groups can
promote their programs and create awareness to an often undiscussed and culturally accepted
problem.
Sexual health is another problem that largely goes avoided and ignored in the community.
The rise of sexually transmitted diseases and infections has continually grown yearly to its
Delaware County FOCA 3
national crisis that it has become today. Sexual health can be addressed on two fronts in the form
of STD awareness and prevention and sexual health screening. This creates many opportunities
for the health community to promote awareness of how much of a threat STDs are, as well as to
offer screening. As many STDs are carried undetected until much damage is done and potentially
passed among others, screening is a powerful tool in education. Sexual health awareness and
education is the most important component to making informed decisions that could potentially
be life altering to the 15-24-year-old community which is at the highest risk. Another opportunity
Health services is the final health deterrent that has been found most important to
Delaware County. Because of being the quickest growing county in the state it is suffering from
growing too quickly (ODH, 2008). Despite a far better than average primary doctor to patient
ratio, healthcare is difficult for many to find as most providers are localized to small areas. This
creates the opportunity for new healthcare programs and advocates to enter the community and
fill the vacuum of specialized care. Between the quickly growing population and the difficulty in
linking patient and care, many opportunities are available for not for profit and healthcare
providers to expand.
community and agenda of the healthcare community. The community can be made aware of the
findings of the MAPP process in several ways. County meetings of various agencies are an
opportunity to address the community and invite discussion of both plan and expected direction.
Social media has quickly become the source of news for many and offers numerous avenues such
Delaware County FOCA 4
as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other like-minded social media platforms. Websites, county
publications, and advertisements are excellent sources of information that can easily be utilized
Appendix
Sub-Committee
Barbara Lewis
Community Action Partnership- Delaware County
Russell Martin
Sheriff at Delaware County Sheriff's Office
Delaware County Sheriff's Office
Holly Quaine
President at Delaware Area Chamber of Commerce
Delaware Area Chamber of Commerce
Michael Vance
American Red Cross of North Central Ohio Regional Volunteer Specialist
Michelle Hannan
The Salvation Army Anti-Human Trafficking Program Director
Delaware County FOCA 6
References
Delaware County FOCA 7
Community Tool Box (n.d.). MAPP: mobilizing for action through planning and
community-health-and-development/mapp/main
Delaware General Health District (2013). Delaware County environmental health profile.
%20Profile_Final.pdf
The Ohio department of Health (2008). Healthy Ohio the state of living well. Retrieved from
http://www.healthy.ohio.gov/comprofiles/delaware.pdf