Assessing Barriers to Healthy Living in Economically Challenged Communities

Introduction: The first step in designing a sustainable community wellness program is identifying modifiable barriers to healthy living, especially in economically challenged communities where individuals face significant health disparities and may be unaware of the community resources available to them. Objective: Connect resource-limited individuals with community health organizations, and identify barriers to healthy living. Methods: We organized a community health resource fair at the O'Brien Community Center in Winooski, VT, including a flu-shot clinic, and administered a survey adapted from Vermont's Fletcher Allen Health Care 2007 Community Needs Assessment. Participants were asked to check up to 3 items in each of 12 categories covering health, wellness, and community concerns. Results: 44 participants completed the survey. Data analysis revealed specific concerns regarding high cost of health, vision and dental insurance, lack of exercise, and barriers to exercise. Other categories that were of significant concern to the participants included lack of affordable housing and employment opportunities, mental health, and substance abuse. Conclusions: The high attendance of Winooski, VT's Bhutanese population in response to the flu clinic indicates a significant need within this community for affordable and accessible health resources, and suggests an effective means of reaching this vulnerable population for health education purposes. Future community health events could focus on helping individuals with health care access or increasing physical activity, which were among the greatest concerns for those in attendance. This model, assessing community health needs, and delivering health care and other services in a community setting could be applied elsewhere.