Measuring the health of a county: An academic-practice partnership for leveraging resources

Academic institutions have unique research, faculty, and resources that can assist local health departments in fulfilling their mission and building capacity. The Saginaw County Department of Public Health partnered with the University of Michigan School of Public Health to increase their capacity to assess their community's health. The goals of this collaboration were to identify, review and analyze existing data using health indicators within the county, and to ascertain additional data collection needs based on gaps in existing data. The National Association of County and City Health Officials' Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships community-driven strategic planning tool was utilized to create the health status assessment report.

This presentation will include key findings from the assessment and discussion of challenges/opportunities of the partnership. Preliminary analyses revealed several health indicators that need to be addressed. Unemployment rates in Saginaw County have been consistently higher, with lower median income and higher poverty rates than Michigan. Of adults, 16.9% are uninsured in the county compared to 12.1% in the state. Infant mortality rates are higher than the state average and blacks have a rate twice that of whites. Total mortality, as well as mortality rates for heart disease and cancer are higher than throughout Michigan.

This joint assessment demonstrates that health departments can benefit from the research expertise of a major university while faculty are provided with a real world context for applying their knowledge. Students benefit from this collaboration by learning research techniques and using them in an applied, practice-based setting.