Hospitals cite obesity, mental health, cancer among top health priorities in assessments

Hospitals cite obesity, mental health, cancer among top health priorities in assessments

A joint study by Cape Girardeau's hospitals, in cooperation with several county health departments, has identified a number of community health concerns hospital officials said they will address in the coming years.

Among them: mental health services, certain chronic disease and forms of cancer, obesity and health care affordability.

Overall results of the hospital's 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) study were presented Thursday to about 30 participants of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Cape program.

Saint Francis Health System and SoutheastHEALTH collaborated to collect information about health concerns in Cape Girardeau County as well as in Bollinger, Scott and Stoddard counties. The four counties comprise the primary service area for both Southeast and Saint Francis.

All not-for-profit hospitals and health care systems -- including the Cape Girardeau hospitals -- are required under the Affordable Care Act of 2010 to conduct CHNA studies every three years to maintain their tax-exempt status.

"It's the law," Christy LeGrand from Saint Francis told the Leadership Cape group. LeGrand is a development officer and grants administrator at Saint Francis and helped lead the CHNA study team along with Shauna Hoffman, vice president of marketing and business development at Southeast.

Over the course of several months starting in 2018, the hospitals and county health departments surveyed a representative cross section of 237 residents of the four counties, conducted six focus groups and collected demographic data and other information from numerous sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, various social service agencies, public health officials and local governments.

The Saint Francis CHNA report was presented to and adopted by the Saint Francis Health System Board last week. In order of priority, the report lists the area's top health and behavioral concerns as:

• Obesity among adults and children
• Heart disease along with related issues of high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol
• Mental health, including substance abuse, depression and bipolar disorder
• Cancer, especially cancer of the breast, prostate, colon/rectum and lung
• Health care affordability

In her presentation to the Leadership Cape group, LeGrand said some of the same issues were listed as priority concerns in Saint Francis' last CHNA report three years ago and that efforts have been made to address them.

"Obesity of adults and children was also a priority issue in our last CHNA in 2016," she said. "One thing we did regarding childhood obesity was to sponsor 'GoNoodle' in every school in Southeast Missouri -- home school, private school, public school. Every child in Southeast Missouri has access to this software program that gets them up and going in their classrooms. We're hoping it will make a difference, but we really don't know that yet because we just implemented it a couple of years ago."

Although the CHNA report from SoutheastHEALTH won't be finalized until later this year, Hoffman said the priority issues Southeast will focus on as a result of the CHNA study are:

• Mental health and substance abuse including drug and alcohol issues, anxiety and depression
• Cancer, especially cancer of the colon and breast
• Healthcare affordability and access to care
• Obesity and the need to emphasize exercise and proper nutrition
• Chronic diseases including stroke, heart disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease
• Preconception and prenatal health

Hoffman said Southeast is addressing the mental health need with a free-standing, 100-bed mental health hospital planned for South Mount Auburn Road across from the Southeast Cancer Center.

Data, surveys and focus group feedback from Cape Girardeau County residents were also used by the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center to develop its Community Health Improvement Plan for 2019. Center director Jane Wernsman, who also spoke to the Leadership Cape group, said that based on the needs assessment study, the county's public health priority issues include mental health care, access to care and wellness and prevention programs.