SBC Public HealthBy the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
Santa Barbara County Public Health Department in a partnership with Cottage Health has completed the subpopulation analysis of the City of Santa Maria as part of the 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). Conducted in October 2022, the Santa Maria Needs Assessment (SMNA) was one of two subpopulation needs assessments conducted in the CHNA.
Santa Maria city residents have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the rest of Santa Barbara County. Although only 25% of Santa Barbara County’s population lives in Santa Maria, 37.3% of county COVID-related deaths and 29.9% of County cases have been among Santa Maria residents. In efforts to learn more about the core of the health disparities that have contributed to these deaths and cases, the developed survey included questions on the following topics: economic and housing stability, childcare, healthcare access, neighborhood environment, food access and security, and the impact of COVID-19. Over 3 days, 192 households were randomly selected and agreed to participate. Data was weighted to represent all households in Santa Maria.
The SMNA reported that 55% of Santa Maria households spoke primarily Spanish in the home and that 60% of households rented their home; values far higher than data presented in the CHNA across the County. The SMNA also found that there was a higher chance that a household would more likely fall under the federal poverty level, have a household member employed seasonally, and/or suffer from food insecurity if English was not the primary language of the household.
Santa Maria households identified multiple impacts of the COVID pandemic. Over a third of households cited the pandemic was currently causing job and/or wage loss, reduction of work hours, and financial problems. The survey also revealed that 15% of Santa Maria households had someone suffering from long COVID in the last year. Given how little is known on long COVID, this was new health information gathered for the PHD.
“The Santa Maria Needs Assessment was a great opportunity for the Health Department to learn more about those living in our largest city in the County. The findings show that Santa Maria households have unique needs and attributes compared to the rest of the County. This information is important for planning,” said Joy Jacobsen, Senior Epidemiologist.
The report also has recommendations for actions that include increased community education on safety net programs, investing in expanding cross-cutting efforts to address social determinants of health, and achieve health equity. In conjunction with Cottage Health, the PHD will be conducting community presentations to disseminate the CHNA and SMNA findings this the summer.
2022 Santa Maria Needs Assessment
