Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health seeks public input on developing next community health plan

photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

Vicki Collie-Akers, director of policy and planning with Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, speaks during the "Dinner with Data" event Thursday, May 11, 2023.

A small group of Douglas County leaders and other community stakeholders gathered for a dinner in downtown Lawrence earlier this week, but they weren’t just there to eat — they were also giving feedback on the early stages of developing Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health’s next five-year Community Health Plan.

The health department hosted a “Dinner with Data” event Thursday, whose attendees included City of Lawrence and Douglas County administrative staff and commissioners, as well as officials with LMH Health and Heartland Community Health Center. The group was tasked with discussing the 14 priority areas the health department has identified in its 2023 Community Health Assessment as key to guiding the work ahead to develop the next plan.

Those priority areas include things like food security, child care, behavioral health and access to health care; the last item in that list was identified as the highest-priority concern area by Douglas County residents in the assessment. The full list of priority areas also includes cardiovascular disease, child abuse and neglect, the criminal justice system, and safe and affordable housing. The full list, plus data points for each area, is available on the health department’s website.

County leaders aren’t the only ones the health department is asking for feedback from to guide the next plan. Thursday’s dinner followed a series of community meetings that have taken place throughout the county during the past month, and community members are being encouraged to offer even further feedback through a series of surveys. There are short surveys available for all 14 priority areas, and folks are welcome to complete as many of them as they like.

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