JACKSON, Wyo. — Violence, abuse and neglect are among the top issues of concern in Teton County, according to the new 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment.
Every three years since 2015, the Teton County Health Department (TCHD) and St. John’s Health (SJH) have compiled a report identifying pressing health needs in Teton County by examining existing data and conducting an accompanying survey of the community. This year, Voices Jackson Hole, an agency focused on immigrant communities in the Jackson area, joined the collaboration.
In the latest survey, completed by over 1,700 participants, the category of “Violence, Abuse and Neglect” ranked third among “the most important health problems,” becoming a chief concern for the first time since the survey was first conducted.
“Violence, abuse and neglect is now one of our themes. It hasn’t been a theme before but has now been an emerging item to keep note of,” Rachael Wheeler, Community Health Manager for TCHD told Buckrail.
A health issue becomes a theme if Teton County is not performing as well as the rest of the state or the country, or if the community survey or past reports have found it to be an issue, according to Wheeler.
The top themes for Teton County identified in the assessment include: cancer; mental health; substance abuse and misuse; violence, abuse and neglect; access to healthcare; safe and affordable housing and good jobs and a healthy economy.
Mental health ranked first among health problems identified by the community survey, with cancer coming in second.
Substance abuse in Teton County is worse than in the rest of Wyoming, with 25% of adults engaging in binge drinking, compared with 18% in the rest of the state. Alcohol use among 12th graders is at 47% in comparison to 31% statewide, according to the report.
Survey respondents ranked access to healthcare as the most important thing for a healthy community. Currently 15% of children in Teton County do not have healthcare, compared with 12% of children in Wyoming as a whole. Wyoming has a ratio of 212 physicians per 100,000 people, the fourth-lowest in the country, the report notes.
Safe and affordable housing remains a key issue for health in the community, according to the assessment. “Unsafe housing structure” was ranked as second in the survey among “main risk factors that need to be addressed.” An estimated 29% of homeowners and 46% of renters are cost-burdened, meaning that their housing payment exceeds 30% of their gross income.
Many top areas of concern have showed up consistently in past health assessments.
“It’s the top hitters,” Wheeler says. “There’s access to healthcare, safe and affordable housing, good jobs and a healthy economy. All of those are kind of our foundations, and they’re really complex problems. We are noting it more in a health space, especially when it comes to housing. A safe and affordable place to live definitely helps these families’ health.”
The results of the health needs assessment will help inform where funds and efforts are directed going forward, Wheeler says.
In the fall, a steering committee made up of government agencies, nonprofits and other stakeholders working in the public health space, including law enforcement, victim services, emergency responders and others, will convene to rank the top issues they see as needing attention going forward.
In the past, this assessment has helped inform the direction of community groups aimed at improving health in the area, and has even led to the formation of new nonprofits to address pressing concerns such as food insecurity.
Read the rest of the findings from the report and community survey here.
