(Santa Ana, CA) - The OC Health Care Agency (HCA) has posted the 2024-26 Orange County Community Health Improvement Plan (OC CHIP) for public review and comment at http://www.ochealthinfo.com/occhip through April 24, 2024. The plan lays out assessments, goals, objectives, and strategies for six priority areas over the next three years and is available to review in threshold languages.
The health of the Orange County (OC) community continues to fare well compared to other California counties. The County Health Rankings (www.countyhealthrankings.org) also notes that the physical and mental health of people in Orange County fares better than the average county in the nation. Despite that, there are some troubling trends that impact local communities, including:
- 14.6% of OC adults report experiencing serious psychological distress in the past year.
- Areas in both north and south OC experienced increases in drug and alcohol mortality rates over the past five years.
- 24.2% of OC adults are obese and more than 50% are overweight.
- Among OC adults, 12.3% report having difficulty finding specialty care.
Through several community meetings and workgroup formations, members from public and private sector organizations collaborated to identify key focus areas to improve the health of everyone in Orange County. Two of the six focus areas they identified address overall behavioral health topics: Mental Health and Substance Use. The remaining four areas highlight health topics identified as the most pressing to work on in the next three years: Diabetes and Obesity, Housing and Homelessness, Care Navigation, and Economic Disparities.
ABOUT THE OC HEALTH CARE AGENCY
The OC Health Care Agency (HCA) is a regional interdisciplinary health jurisdiction and an accredited health department, charged with protecting and promoting individual, family and community health through partnership and coordination of public and private sector resources. Visit www.ochealthinfo.com to learn more about services and resources.
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