Health assessment helps hospital tailor programs to meet needs

SOUTHPORT, NC (WWAY) — The results of a survey assessing health needs in Brunswick County shows residents have concerns about chronic disease, drug/alcohol related disease and mental health.

Earlier this year, Dosher Memorial Hospital in Southport surveyed 843 people as part of its triennial community health needs assessment.

Nearly 48 percent of respondents said chronic disease was their biggest health concern. In a 2015 report, the number was 68 percent.

Another area of concern among respondents involves drug and alcohol abuse. In the survey, 30 percent reported suffering from those diseases compared to only 13 percent in 2015.

As for mental health issues, the survey showed an increase from 1.5 percent three years ago to more than 5 percent now.

Dosher Memorial Hospital uses this data to implement new health strategies to meet patient needs.

“We don’t just sit it on a shelf, we act on it,” said James Goss, Director of Marketing and Community Relations at Dosher Memorial Hospital.

Two years ago, Dosher helped form the Brunswick Wellness Coalition, a partnership with the Y of Wilmington, Brunswick County Health Department and New Hope Clinic.

“This body, together, will try to figure out some solutions and address some of these concerns,” Goss said.

He says the groups work collaboratively for ways to address these health concerns.

“This is one thing that really helps in a survey like this, its not just Dosher, its not just Southport, or Oak Island or Boiling Spring Lakes, its a county-wide issue,” he said. “That’s why we are asking these other parties, these other entities, to come up with these solutions.”

Doss says other community surveys presented to the public in the past have helped the hospital focus more on expanding cardiac rehabilitation.

“This past year we did 19 percent more treatments to patients than we did before and the year before that it was 20 percent up,” he said.

The data from the spring study was presented to the hospital Board of Trustees and members of the Brunswick Wellness Coalition in September and will be used to help shape services and programs addressing these conditions.