Information about health-related issues in Delaware is now just a mouse-click away.
The Delaware Health Tracker web site offers a wide array of health data organized to make that data more useful in improving overall community health. The project is the first database of its kind in Delaware.
Lisa Schieffert, director of health policy for the Delaware Healthcare Association, discusses the Delaware Health Tracker.
Lisa Schieffert, director of health policy for the Delaware Healthcare Association, discusses the Delaware Health Tracker.
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“We call it a one-stop shop for information,” said Lisa Schieffert, director of health policy for the Delaware Healthcare Association, the hospital advocacy group that launched the site last month.
Schieffert said her group recognized the need for a centralized data source while working on community needs assessments. “What was available had been in Excel spreadsheet form and that means you’re left to interpret the data and for people who don’t have a background in health statistics or epidemiology, that’s a real challenge,” she said.
Delaware is the fourth state to sign on to the service, which is run by a California-based vendor and kept current with regular updates from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Schieffert. Delaware Health Tracker (dehealthtracker.com) is funded by United Way of Delaware, Christiana Care Health System, Bayhealth Medical Center and Beebe Medical Center.
The site provides a dashboard of options from disease statistics for asthma and diabetes, for example, to economic, education, lifestyle and environmental data. “What it does that makes it so special is that it takes a lot of really diverse data from a variety of sources and sews it together,” said Emily Knearl, chief of health risk communications at the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.
Emily Knearl, chief of health risk communications at the Delaware DHSS outlines the benefits of the Delaware Health Tracker.
Emily Knearl, chief of health risk communications at the Delaware DHSS outlines the benefits of the Delaware Health Tracker.
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Topics can be drilled down by county and, in some cases, census track, and compared with the rest of the country. Users can also search the site and identify red flags for health issues that need to be addressed.
Health industry experts said that while the data hasn’t yielded any surprises at the statewide level, it has provided some insights into the problems facing some communities.
“I think we’ve learned that there are some issues, for example, childhood asthma, that need to be addressed immediately because those numbers are going up,” said Schieffert. “We’re also looking at the obesity issue here in Delaware because we fall somewhat short of the national goals.”
Having a vetted and centralized source of data will also make the policy process less cumbersome and more productive, experts said. “There was a lot of great data but it was all over the place,” said Michelle Taylor, president and CEO of United Way of Delaware. “You had to go to numerous sources, and in some cases, even some of the data on the same information was slightly different.”
The launch of the web site is the first part of a much larger initiative, in which stakeholders will work together to move the less-than-favorable indicators in a more positive direction.
“I think one of the most critical points to consider regarding this is it’s certainly a collaborative effort which for years we didn’t engage in, especially in a public forum,” said Megan Williams, director of population health at Beebe Medical Center. “That’s quite groundbreaking for Delaware.”
Williams feels the lifestyle and environmental data give stakeholders a better understanding of how to partner for preventive care. “We need to allocate resources and programming to address obesity out in the community, and that means establishing a collaborative relationship with organizations like Sussex Outdoors whose mission is to improve physical activity.”
Organizers say that while the site will mostly attract healthcare providers and government officials, anyone with an interest in public health and wellness, including parents, teachers and other caregivers, can access the user-friendly data. “A parent who’s concerned about HIV can take actual information and show (their child) what’s happening in their own backyard,” said Kate Salvato, director of education at Bayhealth Medical Center. “Information is power.”