CLAY COUNTY – The Department of Health’s latest Community Health Assessment reveals the area experiences a higher rate of heart disease, suicide and sexually-transmitted disease compared to the rest of the state from 2016 and 2017.

The DOH surveyed nearly 1,000 people, performed five focus groups and held 11 stakeholder interviews to gather enough information to create a snapshot of Clay County health. This snapshot includes issues residents feel are important, including disease rates.

“In terms of health status, Clay County has experienced a higher rate than Florida for heart disease, Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases, suicide rates, and sexually-transmitted diseases,” Clay County DOH Chief Health Strategist Courtney Ellis said.

There was a 18.4% difference of Clay County residents that lived within a half-mile from a healthy food source, which Ellis said includes grocery stores or official registered produce stands, in 2016. The state of Florida’s difference was 31%.

An increase in sexually-transmitted diseases, specifically gonorrhea and syphilis, occurred from 2016 to 2017, which Ellis considers a lowlight from the report. Other standout numbers include the county’s heart disease mortality rate which was higher than the Florida rate. However, the 2017 rate for Clay County of 152.9 was a decrease from the previous reported year.

The county’s Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease, which includes things like Asthma and Pulmonary Hypertension, have consistently been above the state average, Ellis said, and from 2015 to 2017, the county saw an increase of 24.1%.

“Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease is the fourth-leading cause of death in the nation, Florida and Clay County,” Ellis said.

The suicide rate in Clay County is higher than the state of Florida’s as well at 16.4 versus 14.2. These are just some of the numbers highlighted in the CHA report. Ellis said the report is completed every three to five years to bring attention and awareness to the county’s health.

“As part of being an accredited health department, a community health assessment is done every three to five years and this was our third cycle,” Ellis said. “This assessment is the product of a collective and collaborative effort from these dedicated health and social service providers along with the invaluable residents from Clay County that helped lead us into our next three-year Community Health Improvement Plan cycle.”

The report began to come to life in August of 2018 when the DOH worked to bring together key stakeholders, community members and health-oriented organizations to help identify health issues facing Clay County through the use of interviews, surveys and focus groups.

“Working together, the community partners selected three health priority areas: Behavioral health, including mental health, healthcare access and disease prevention and lifestyle behaviors,” Ellis said.

Ellis said some of the sources for information include the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Census and Florida health charts. The key takeaway of the report according to Ellis is the importance of community partnerships.

“The purpose of this assessment report is to identify significant health needs, prioritize improvements and collaborate with community partners to remove barriers,” Ellis said. “We must do an analysis to see what the health of our community looks like and if we don’t, we could be doing things our community doesn’t particularly need.

“We want this report to be utilized by our community as it is a community-driven process not solely owned by the health department. As a place where we live, work and play, it will take all of us to build a healthier Clay County to continue addressing emerging health needs.”