SBC Public HealthBy the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department, Cottage Health, and Dignity Health are embarking on a data collection effort to better understand the health needs and assets in the city of Santa Maria. From Thursday, October 13, 2022 through Saturday, October 15, 2022, data collectors including County Public Health staff and community partners will be going door-to-door conducting in-person surveys. Data collectors will be bilingual in English and Spanish and will have access to translation for other languages as needed.
“Data that reflects the current health status of the Santa Maria community, particularly given the impacts this region has experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, are critical to informing how the public health system moves forward,” shared Deputy Director for Community Health, Paige Batson. “We are thrilled to join forces with hospitals in our county and community partners that know and serve our residents on a daily basis.”
Randomly selected households will be chosen to participate in this data collection effort. Trained data collectors wearing vests and nametags will be walking neighborhoods throughout Santa Maria to gather a representative sample of surveys. All responses will be confidential and will not be connected to names, addresses or phone numbers. No personal financial information will be collected for this needs assessment.
The Santa Maria Needs Assessment is a part of a larger countywide Community Health Needs Assessment spearheaded by Cottage Health and Santa Barbara County Public Health Department.
The Community Health Needs Assessment collaborative includes the following partners:
- Community Health Care Centers of the Central Coast
- Cottage Health
- Dignity Health
- Lompoc Valley Community Healthcare Organization
- Lompoc Valley Medical Center
- Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP)
- Planned Parenthood California Central Coast
- Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness
- Santa Barbara County Public Health Department
- Santa Barbara Foundation
- Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics
- Tribal Health
- University of California, Santa Barbara
All data collected will be shared with community members and partners as early as January 2023. For more information about the data collection effort in Santa Maria and other components of the countywide Community Health Needs Assessment, please visit https://www.countyofsb.org/3397/Community-Health-Needs-Assessment.
