1 of 33

Applying Needs Assessment Findings into Community Action in Western Oklahoma

Meredith Scott, MS, CHES¹, Stephanie DeBerry, MS, RDN, LD¹, Michael Clark, MS¹, Jason Felts MS²

¹OUHSC Hudson College of Public Health, Oklahoma Nutrition Information & Education (ONIE) Project ²Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality

2 of 33

Acknowledgement

Katie Carlsen, ONIE Practicum Student
Jayme Noble, OFMQ Coordinator
Saundra Burchill, OFMQ Sr. Clinical Consultant
Lindsey Wiley, OFMQ Executive Director

Funding: Rural Community Program through the Health Resources & Services Administration

3 of 33

Western Oklahoma Wellness

Vision Statement: All residents in Western Oklahoma have access to affordable health care & healthy lifestyle choices

Strategic Purpose Statement: Advance rural health by aligning community resources for enhanced care coordination, provider education & health promotion to prevent disease & improve wellness.

Service Area: Beckham, Greer, Kiowa, Roger Mills, Washita

4 of 33

Western OK Wellness Objectives

Develop a diverse consortium to enhance the delivery of preventive health care services & implement sustainable programs covering Beckham, Greer, Kiowa, Roger Mills & Washita counties
Increase the number of healthcare providers utilizing Health Information Technology for patient engagement, population health management & health information exchange to improve health care cost & access to care
Improve rural health outcomes through the development of a regional diabetes prevention program & increased access to community healthy living programs

5 of 33

Core Activities

Establish & enhance lifestyle change programs
Identify community needs & host “Weeks of Wellness” to progress health promotion
Provide technical assistance to improve clinical workflow & population health management
Deliver educational materials & resources to health care providers & patients

6 of 33

Quality Improvement

WOW provides technical assistance to health care providers

Preventive efforts
Workflow assessment
EHR measure evaluation

Population health management

Referral processes
Patient engagement
Clinical protocols

7 of 33

WOW Continuing Education

WOW provides continuing education to improve patient outcomes, provide updates on current evidence-based & promising practice & translate knowledge into practice
Topics included:

The Impact of Obesity
Youth Onset Type 2 Diabetes
Chronic Kidney Disease
To Insulin & Beyond: Inpatient Glycemic Control
Making Healthy Choices Easier: Tools & Resources for Boosting Local Food Access & Nutrition Security

8 of 33

Community Wellness Survey

Identify the health needs & community strengths of Western Oklahoma residents.

9 of 33

Community Wellness Survey

Initial Survey covered current service area

5 counties in Western OK

Approved by OU Institutional Review Board (IRB)
Looks into access to food, physical activity & healthcare services
Evaluates attitudes toward change & current health status

10 of 33

Survey Development

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
San Luis Valley Community Health Survey
National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
Perceived Health Competence Scale (PHCS)
Barriers to Information Access Scale (BIAS)
Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS)
Additional questions to gauge survey respondents’ interest in potential services

11 of 33

Survey Development

Western Oklahoma Wellness Consortium members reviewed survey questions
Length of time to take survey was tested to confirm it would take 5-10 minutes
Survey was provided only online through a URL or QR code
Reading level was assessed
Mobile friendliness was assessed

12 of 33

Recruitment

Western Oklahoma Wellness Consortium

Sent survey to consortium members to help distribute

Elk City Water Bill
Community Events

Back to School Events
Health Fairs

13 of 33

Champions

Consortium Member
City of Elk City

Matt Bradshaw, Elk City Program Manager

City saw the survey as an opportunity to better understand their community
City provided feedback on survey questions

14 of 33

Elk City

Beckham County seat
Principal city in Western Oklahoma for services

Medical
Retail / Groceries
Entertainment

City’s priorities is to grow services that meet the needs of their community

15 of 33

Survey Results

16 of 33

Methods - Survey

Online survey through qualtrics

Survey ran for 3 months

August - October 2022

922 respondents completed the survey

Respondents were asked for their zip code

County location was based off zip code response
Non oklahoma zips were removed from analysis

Analysis performed in SPSS

County	Frequency	Percentage
Beckham	284	31%
Greer	40	4%
Kiowa	59	6%
Roger Mills	43	5%
Washita	80	9%
Caddo	176	19%
Surrounding counties	238	26%

17 of 33

Demographics - Survey vs State

		Survey	State			Survey	State
Gender	Male	45.5	49.9	Ethnicity	Non-Hispanic	86.0	63.4
	Female	54.4	50.1		Hispanic/Latino	14.0	12.1
Age	10-19	0.1	14.1	Race	American Indian	2.6	9.5
	20-29	20.9	13.7		Asian	4.9	2.6
	30-39	56.1	13.6		African American	14.5	7.9
	40-49	16.4	12.2		Native Hawaiian/ Other Pacific-Islander	1.5	0.3
	50-59	3.7	11.3		White	74.1	73
	60-69	1.7	11.6		Multiple	2.3	6.7
	70-79	1.1	7.7

18 of 33

Areas respondents felt they could benefit from education

19 of 33

Free services respondents would be interested in utilizing

Health services:

Lab testing, health care enrollment services

Infection prevention:

Vaccines, Covid testing

Healthy activities:

Non competitive & Family activities

20 of 33

Areas respondents felt they could benefit from education by county

21 of 33

Interest in free services in community by county

Health services:

Lab testing, health care enrollment services

Infection prevention:

Vaccines, Covid testing

Healthy activities:

Non competitive & Family activities

22 of 33

Results in Summary

81.4% of respondents have been screened for Diabetes
86.3% have a PCP
57.8% have been seen by their PCP in the last year
Only 7.7% of all respondents reported their health as fair or poor

Region overall feels that nutrition education & healthy activities are needed & would be utilized

When separated by individual counties Healthy activities & nutrition education are still priorities but smaller population county's needs are more infrastructure based & center around access & health services.

23 of 33

Applying Needs Assessment Findings into Community Action

24 of 33

Weeks of Wellness

Collaborative effort
Tailor events to each community’s needs & wants
Identify local stakeholders & champions

schools/educators, health departments, providers/hospitals, public figures

Focus on local resources to engage community

Health fairs that highlight local resources
Opportunities for physical activity
Access to healthy foods
Center around established events
Offer preventive testing & education

25 of 33

WOW Health Fairs

Local resources
Community organizations
Family fun activities

Art stations
Games
Physical activity stations
Cooking demonstrations

26 of 33

WOW Preventative Testing

Partner with local organizations to provide preventative screenings

Blood pressure
Biometric scale readings
Lipid panel
HbA1c

SWOSU conducts blood sugar testing to identify diabetes markers.

27 of 33

WOW Cooking Demos

Interactive demos
Feature local produce
Provide nutrition resources

Nutrition calendars
Easy, healthy recipes
Kitchen items to reinforce cooking skills & behaviors learned
Answer audience questions

28 of 33

WOW Let’s Get Moving Events

Free family fun
Physical activity
Highlight local infrastructure

29 of 33

WOW Art

Competitions

Engaging with schools, children & parents

30 of 33

WOW Social Media

Healthy Cooking Demos

31 of 33

Upcoming WOW Events

Nov 14th: World Diabetes Day FREE CME/CEU
Nov 16th: Rural Health Day Art Competition - Washita County, Cordell Memorial Hospital
Jan 18th: Exercise & Cooking Demos - Beckham County, Elk City�Feb 7th: Roger Mills County Community Health Fair
Quarterly consortium meetings (4th Thursday of the 1st month of each quarter)

Jan 25th, 2024
April 25th, 2024
July 25th, 2024
Oct 24th, 2024

32 of 33

Areas of Opportunity

Identifying champions in each community
Building capacity using local infrastructure
Shared use agreements with local school & community facilities
Because majority of respondents have a PCP & seek nutrition/health advice from their doctor, we see opportunity for program recruitment through clinics