Saint Alphonsus Releases Findings of its Community Health Needs Assessment for the Treasure Valley

Study Gives Snapshot of Social Influencers of Health for the Treasure Valley

Saint Alphonsus Health System has released its Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) for the Treasure Valley, including Ada, Canyon, Gem, Elmore and Owyhee Counties. The 2020 CHNA will help the health system focus efforts at improving the social influencers of health in the communities it serves.

The World Health Organization defines Social Influencers of Health as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources.”

Conducted in partnership with the United Way of Treasure Valley, the Treasure Valley CHNA found that the most significant health needs include safe, affordable housing and homelessness; wages and job availability; cost of living, including transportation, housing and childcare; mental health and well-being; substance abuse; access to affordable healthcare and education, including high-quality early childhood education.

“This assessment provides a snapshot of the health, and drivers of health, of our communities,” said Jennifer Palagi, Vice President of Community Health and Well-Being for Saint Alphonsus Health System. “It also helps us identify opportunities to positively impact and improve conditions for the population we serve. As the Treasure Valley grows, the support systems for our community’s most vulnerable citizens stretches thin, and this report will help us focus resources where they will do the most good.”

The health system is required to conduct a CHNA every three years. Since the 2017 Assessment, Saint Alphonsus has focused investments and hospital resources to address health care access, nutrition, physical activity and healthy weight status, and harmful substance use as the most significant health needs.

Saint Alphonsus supported the adoption and funding of Medicaid Expansion and provided funding to organizations such as Genesis Community Health, New Path Community Housing, Allumbaugh House, and the Idaho Suicide Hotline to increase healthcare access. The Saint Alphonsus Center for Global Health and Healing provided trauma informed care to more than 18,000 refugee patients.

The system also funded GoNoodle, an online activity program that promotes physical activity and mindfulness during class instruction time, reaching more than 67,000 Idaho students with over 157,000 hours of physical activity time. Saint Alphonsus also led statewide initiatives over the past three years to raise the sale age of tobacco to 21 years, and successfully passed a tobacco parity law in early 2020 to include e-cigarettes in the statewide definitions of tobacco and established a licensing protocol for e-cigarette retailers to reduce vape use among youth.

“While the 2020 CHNA data collection was completed prior to COVID-19, it is important to recognize the assets and challenges the community was facing before so that we may best focus our efforts for recovery,” Palagi added. “The data shows that older adults, communities of color, and people experiencing financial hardships prior to COVID-19 have been impacted at much higher rates both in terms of health and economic outcomes.”

The 2020 Saint Alphonsus Community Health Needs Assessment can be found online at https://www.saintalphonsus.org/about-us/community-benefit/community-needs-assessment/. Each Saint Alphonsus hospital in Boise, Nampa and Ontario, Oregon will use findings from the report to direct local investments in each community through 2023.