To deliver programs and services that align with needs, it is critical to understand what your community's makeup is today and what it will be in the future. Using demographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle data, you can build a more complete picture of your community, understand health disparities, analyze public health trends, and prepare for future needs.
Your community health assessments should not simply fulfill a legal requirement; they should be actionable. They should give you insight into who needs the most help and where you can make the most impact. Incorporating GIS will give you this new perspective. You will be able to run spatial analysis to see hot spots, determine where you should allocate resources for the greatest impact, understand how you can lead health interventions, and decide how you can better serve patients and prepare for their needs.
Building a community requires two-way communication. With GIS, you can share information effortlessly, in an easy-to-understand format to influence health. Provide residents with an accurate snapshot of their community's health, nearby services, and authoritative information. Inform the community with maps of available resources—parks, fresh-food markets, services, health insurers, and more. And more importantly, elicit citizen participation and feedback for community-based key initiatives.
Those who are successfully using GIS to address health inequities are using readily available applications and dashboards that improve situational awareness, allow users to shift to iterative policy making, and address issues in real time. These apps allow organizations to set baselines, monitor progress in at-risk areas, and be transparent with the community on their performance.
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Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data and smart maps are elevating human services in Snohomish County, Washington.
