Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to provide Nevada’s suburban, rural, and frontier county governments, community partners, and public health authorities with a baseline of public health services in their county and their regional counties utilizing a nationally recognized framework. The goal is to provide local infrastructure data that can be analyzed alongside local health indicators and community health needs assessments to support strategic decision-making for community health improvement.
The use of the national Foundational Public Health Services1 model enables local and state public health agencies in Nevada to benchmark progress with other states, leverage data to secure federal funding for targeted improvement efforts, and more robustly consider Nevada’s public health policy and infrastructure from a national perspective. Nevada’s baseline public health services as defined in statute represent only a subsection of responsibilities outlined in the national model.
In addition to baseline data collection, the purpose of the assessment was to elevate the conversation on local public health. With stronger relationships and more open lines of communication between state and local partners serving the same communities, comes greater understanding, community utilization of services, and oversight of current programs and investments.
Through the assessment process, it was identified that improved communication and information sharing is critically needed between public health agencies, local governments, and the communities served. Towards this end, this report aims to improve knowledge of Nevada’s public health system (see: Background and Critical Context) at the local level and to empower public health authorities and local governments to address communication and other gaps as resources allow in ways that align with each county’s unique vision and need.
There are links to the health authority strategic plans, policies, dashboards, and websites, as well as resource directories for select services to allow this report to function as both a study and a guide to public health in Nevada’s suburban, rural and frontier counties.
For the complete report, use the link below to download the PDF version.
