Survey Asks Lake County Residents' Access to Care

The survey asks about Lake residents’ access to care – Do they have a personal physician?  Dental insurance?  How would they rate the quality of their care? 

“Is it that individuals have the insurance or are they more concerned about utilizing it because of out of pocket costs?” asks Lake County Health Commissioner Ron Graham. “Or do they have a physician that’s unable to provide the services.”

Graham says they’re trying to figure out where there might be shortcomings in health care in the county.

“And for public health, that’s much larger than just the health district.  It’s really the network of hospitals, and providers and businesses that can work together to improve the population of our county.”

He says data from the survey could help shape public health initiatives such as those with the county's Department of Jobs and Family Services or with the United Way.  He adds, the data could be used to help advocate for health policy in Columbus.

“This is what not only Lake county is experiencing but we’ll kind of pair that data up with other communities throughout the state to see what the commonalities are.” 

Besides asking residents to take the survey online, the county is also conducting focus groups with Spanish-speakers, homeless populations, and seniors.  The survey has been open since early June.  The Health District says the July 15 closing date will likely be extended.  

Graham says the goal is to get at least 400 responses for a statistically significant sample.   So far, they’ve received about 110 completed surveys.