ISK Releases 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment Report

ISK’s 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) aims to identify behavioral health issues in Kalamazoo County and evaluate how they’re being addressed. It provides ISK with insights into the prevalence of mental health and substance use problems, especially among underserved populations, and highlights disparities within the community. The assessment also informs ISK’s staffing and service planning.

To conduct the CHNA, ISK gathered data from public sources, electronic health records, and community surveys. We focused on demographics, suicides, overdoses, social determinants of health, unmet needs, service types, and access to care.

Special attention was given to reaching underserved populations.

Key findings included the need for improvement in crisis services, like adding prescriber access to our Behavioral Health Urgent Care & Access Center. The CHNA also highlighted ongoing challenges that affect community health, like housing instability.

Going forward, ISK will use the CHNA findings to inform staffing decisions and integrate evidence-based practices tailored to the community’s mental health and substance use needs.