Partnerships to improve local public health: Workforce surge capacity and new technologies advance community health assessments in North Carolina

Every 4 years, local health departments in North Carolina are required to complete a community health assessment to provide updated information about priority health issues specific to the county.

During 2007, volunteers from Team Epi-Aid, a student volunteer surge capacity group sponsored by the North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, provided workforce surge capacity and technical assistance to six local health departments in North Carolina. Thirty-six student volunteers contributed 680 hours towards the completion of community health assessments.

To ensure representation, a two-stage random sampling method was used. First, 30 census blocks in the county were randomly selected based on probability proportionate to population size. Within selected block groups, 7 households were randomly selected using a Geographic Information Systems–based survey site selection toolkit developed by the North Carolina Division of Public Health in ESRI ArcMap. Using handheld Field Data Collectors, interview teams were routed to each location with a map generated by ESRI ArcPad Street Map. Interviews were conducted with one resident of the selected household and data were electronically recorded at the time of interview.

Case studies of several community health assessments, including results, will be presented in order to demonstrate that the use of new GIS technologies and student surge capacity greatly improved the efficiency of the community health assessment process, ensuring the priorities of all citizens are represented.