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WACO, Texas (KWTX) – Public health workers will be door-knocking in McLennan County this weekend to gather information to help identify the community’s greatest health needs and gaps.
“What we’re doing now is called CASPER,” said Vaidhi Shah, senior epidemiologist at the Waco-McLennan County Public Health District. “It’s part of our larger community health needs assessment.”
CASPER stands for: Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response, a door-to-door survey method developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, Waco-McLennan County Public Health District staff will be asking residents in select areas of the county about their health needs and concerns.
“Whatever information we collect, we use it to plan and operate and address unmet health needs,” Shah said.
Public health officials said they don’t ask specific questions about a person’s health in the survey — the questions are vague, open-ended, and cover health-related issues, including physical activity, infant and maternal health. Death, food supply, mental health, infectious diseases, etc.
“We have broad questions to ask the community,” Shah said. “The questions are different: what are the challenges you face in your area, what are the strengths, what services can be improved, like, what are the greatest health needs in the community?”
One key aspect of the survey: It is randomized, so some towns in the county may be left out entirely.For the purposes of the survey, it is divided into 30 clusters.
“We go to each of the clusters and collect seven interviews from each cluster,” Shah said.
If your ‘cluster’ is selected, expect to see staff wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “Public Health” driving marked vehicles.
Shah said that the local law enforcement agencies have already been informed.
All survey interviews are conducted outside the home.
Although the survey is anonymous and voluntary, the participants will be given gift cards.
The goal is for the district to get 210 responses to identify three to five health areas the county should focus on.
“The reason we collect this data is so that we can determine ‘what the health needs are’ so that we can plan interventions and programs to meet those needs,” Shah said. “That’s why we want people to tell us, to answer these questions about what their needs are, so we can better serve them.”
Those who are not selected from door-to-door who want to participate in the survey will get the chance when the survey is released online.
It will take about a year to collect and analyze the data, Shah said.
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