At the January 18 meeting of the Archuleta County Board of Health (BOH) — the appointed body charged with governing the newly formed Archuleta County Public Health Department (ACPHD) — one of the many discussions focused on the requirement that the Department have a ‘five-year improvement plan.’
Here in Colorado, public health is considered a matter of state concern, so many of the decisions that a Board of Health makes are regulated by state law.
The ‘five-year improvement plan’ is required by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Prior to January 1, 2024, the San Juan Basin Public Health (SJBPH) district had managed public health services in La Plata and Archuleta County, but those two counties dissolved their share district and now each have a county-run public health department.
But before it dissolved, SJBPH wrote up a “Community Health Assessment” with the aim of helping the two new departments understand the health issues in each community. The “Assessment” was based partly on surveys of local residents, and partly on data acquired through state agencies or elsewhere.
During the discussion about the assessment, BOH President Jon Bruss (pronounced ‘Bruce’) expressed some concerns about the data, as presented by SJBPH.
In particular, he was concerned that some of the graphs showed ‘percentages’ but not actual numbers.
As here, for example:
This graph purports to show how local residents feel about the state of public heatlh in Archuleta and La Plata counties.
Dr. Bruss expressed his disappointment that the actual number of people who answered this particular survey question is not shown.
ACPHD Executive Director Ashley Wilson noted that about 427 residents were surveyed here in Pagosa, out of a population of 14,000 residents. The respondents did not appears to be terribly representative of the community, with the majority being older females with a college education.
My own complaint about this assessment concerned the questions that the respondents were asked.
For example:
Like most of the survey questions, SJBPH was asking ordinary citizens to express an opinion about their entire community and its needs.
In other words, this data was generated, based not on actual facts but rather on ‘gut feelings’ about their community.
We all know the value of uninformed opinions. But that’s basically what SJBPH obtained in its survey.
Only one of the questions dealt with something about which each respondent is a presumed expert: their own personal health.
If SJBPH had asked about personal health issues, the data would have had some real value.
As it is, the assessment data collected from the community survey is mostly worthless for making informed decisions.
You can download the assessment here.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.