A report on the 2023 Allegan County Community Health Survey outlines residents’ health and personal needs, findings that will ultimately prioritize community resources.
The survey did a deep dive into what the 636 respondents consider key aspects of their personal and household lives. Their answers take into account physical health, behavioral health, housing, food security, water quality, parks and recreation, services for older adults, and preferences for receiving health and wellness information.
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Courtesy Allegan County Community FoundationLauren Hunt-VanderPloeg
The study is only the first step. The data gained from the 2023 report will be used to develop a community health needs assessment and community health improvement plan, according to Lauren Hunt-VanderPloeg, community impact officer for the Allegan County Community Foundation. The survey’s assessments can be
found here, and the plan is
available for review here.
“The survey is super important in the timing because the county is currently undergoing a community health needs assessment,” Hunt-VanderPloeg says.
What the survey shows
Key findings in the CHS report include:
- Allegan County residents are actively involved in aspects of their health and are confident in navigating their health system.
- Behavioral health is good among residents, but while many have not needed to access services in the past year, the community could benefit from more awareness of programs.
- The availability and affordability of quality housing is an issue, and most residents are unaware of housing resources and support.
- Most residents feel that there are enough parks in Allegan County, but there is a desire for more recreational and social activities.
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Courtesy OnPoint Mark Witte, executive director of the community mental health agency OnPoint
One result that caught Mark Witte’s attention is the percentage of respondents who said they needed behavioral health or substance abuse services in the past 12 months: 18% said they needed such help.
“We’re looking to see what happens to that 18% number,” says Witte, executive director of the community mental health agency OnPoint (formerly Allegan County Community Mental Health Services). “The goal is not to eliminate all the needs for behavioral health services. The goal is to be able to serve them when they arise. The goal is to have a system of services when these needs come up.”
Diminished stigma apparently means more Allegan County residents are more willing to receive mental health services than in previous years, Witte adds. Also, residents are more aware of the mental health services that are available.
“Previous surveys have had ratings with something like 85% to 90% saying it’s not available,” he says. “Now, half of the residents say they positively rated the availability of affordable quality mental health care in Allegan County.”
Part of that, Witte says, is the heightened attention paid to mental health and addiction coming out of the pandemic.
“Combined with the OnPoint name change … and we’ve moved our facility to a much more prominent location within the city of Allegan and our staff are out in the community every day serving people — all of that has added to the awareness of our services.”
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Courtesy Allegan Area Educational Service AgencyWilliam Brown, superintendent of the Allegan Area Educational Service Agency
Witte says broader community outreach will help more residents understand that they can receive mental health services even if they’re not homeless, and that children who do not have mental health problems still can face developmental, intellectual or emotional challenges.
“We’re spending time as a community not just talking about the problems, but we’re also carefully and objectively gathering information that allows us to change and grow,” Witte says.
Challenge to schools
William Brown, superintendent of the Allegan Area Educational Service Agency, said the survey uncovered a silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, which required the district’s 13,330 students to remain home.
“I think if there’s any benefit to something as traumatic as the pandemic, it’s that it brought to the forefront the need to support, to address, to do everything we can around mental health,” Brown says.
Before the pandemic, he says, schools countywide were seeing increases in student behavior problems and truancy.
“And then, during the pandemic, we had students and families who were struggling already who now had days and days, which turned into months of social isolation,” Brown said.
“When schools started reopening, that first year back was a challenge. We had students who had not had a typical school year in three years. So think of third grade students who’ve never experienced a typical school year.”
Now, teachers and administrators are seeing behaviors that they’ve never seen before, says Brown, who concludes it’s all tied to trauma and mental health.
“It’s going to take a community to deal with this,” he says. “It is not up to the courts to fix it or community mental health or OnPoint or DHS or the schools. It’s going to take all of us together.”
Fortunately, Michigan’s program for at-risk students now includes support and services for all students, not just those with disabilities.
“That has now been expanded to move into general education so school districts can hire providers to provide mental health services in schools,” Brown says. “We received that money so we have mental health providers in our local school districts to the degree we haven’t had before.”