The Northeast Tri County Health District (NETCHD) participates in a local process to assess community wide health priorities in collaboration with many community partners. This process and resulting report is called a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). NETCHD completes this process for Ferry, Pend Oreille, and Stevens Counties individually, resulting in three CHNA reports that are specific to the needs identified by each respective county.
The CHNA process includes:
- Developing and sharing a survey and distributing within each county.
- Organizing and leading focus groups throughout each county.
- Interviewing the District’s Public Health Advisory Board members who represent each county.
- Analyzing health indicators for each county.
- Organizing and synthesizing all information collected into individual county reports.
The CHNA is a document that summarizes needs, resources, and systems within the community. The Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) focuses the needs into evidence-based goals and objectives aimed to resolve disparities, improve health, and reduce barriers. The CHNA and the CHIP belong to all community members, including partners. They can help agencies focus their activities, obtain resources, and identify partnerships.
