County hospitals, organizations form a forward looking collaborative to assess local health.

Pam Marino here, thinking that as rotten as this pandemic has been—and continues to be—there are some positives that have come out of it.

On a global scale, the emergence of Covid-19 spurred an enormous amount of medical research and speedy development of vaccines and treatments unlike anything we’ve seen before. That R&D data will likely lead to more breakthroughs that will provide great benefits to our health.

The cracks and disparities in society were laid bare and while that can feel painful, I think of a quote attributed to Neil DeGrasse Tyson, “All information is good even when it’s bad.” We can address that which is in the light and hopefully improve the disparities for better outcomes in the future.

Locally, new partnerships and coalitions were formed or strengthened, which we’ve written about extensively. The Monterey County community came together in an unprecedented way to keep people safe and save lives.

One such partnership throughout the pandemic was the one between the four hospitals in the county: Natividad, Salinas Valley Memorial, Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula and Mee Memorial. I remember back at the start of the pandemic in 2020 reporting on how hospital officials were meeting and sharing information on how to handle a potential deluge of patients. That partnership only grew stronger as they dealt with pandemic spikes, testing operations and vaccine rollouts, as well as collaborating on public education campaigns.

As a result of working together over the past two years, those four hospitals and two more agencies they interacted with consistently—the Monterey County Health Department and United Way Monterey County—have officially formed the Monterey County Health Needs Collaborative, announced on April 6.

The goal of the collaborative is to “more effectively identify, address, and improve the health and well-being of the local community,” according to a press release. “It was a natural next step to continue these alliances to better coordinate resources and efforts moving forward for the greater good of the community.”

One of the tasks of the collaborative is to assess the health of the community. Nonprofit hospitals are already required to complete a community health needs assessment every three years, and health departments are required to do a health assessment every five years. 

Usually each institution and agency does these in their own silos, even though their service areas overlap. Now they’ve launched a joint effort to do an assessment, using the firm Professional Research Consultants and the California Hospital Association. A confidential and anonymous online survey was launched on April 6, and phone calls are also being made in both English and Spanish.

The data they collect will be used to identify the most pressing health needs of the community, as well as identify trends and major health concerns. The data will be made public and will be available to community organizations to use when creating initiatives or writing grant requests. It could mean more funding flowing into the county to tackle health issues in the future.

I completed the online survey earlier today and found it took me around 15 minutes to fill out. I liked the fact that they asked me what I thought the biggest health issue facing the community is and how it could be addressed. It also asked questions about my own health, as well as my mental health, and how easy or hard it has been for me to find and afford treatment.

Among those questions: If I needed emergency medical treatment and I needed $400 immediately to pay for it, would I be able to come up with the cash? 

Why $400? That’s the amount that gets bandied about by some experts as the unexpected expense that could create economic havoc for many Americans. As in a $400 medical expense or car repair bill that prevents them from being able to cover the rent that month. 

Collecting this kind of data will be hugely beneficial to better understanding where we stand as a community and what needs to be done moving forward to improve individuals and our collective health. It’s an important survey for the future health of the community and I hope you will make the time to fill it out or answer the call if it comes to your phone. You can take the survey right now at healthymontereycounty.org. 

And while you’re at it, feel free to share your answer to what the greatest health need is in our community and what we should do about it with me—I’m always interested in hearing what you think.

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