THT Community Health Needs Assessment – 2016 Update
This report is an update and addendum to the Trenton Health Team Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) Report of July 2013.
The 2016 CHNA provides a comprehensive review of quantitative data for the six zip codes of Trenton (08608, 08609, 08611, 08618, 08629, and 08638), coupled with qualitative input from residents obtained through 30 community forums and 300 one-on-one interviews, and survey findings from a county-wide health assessment, conducted by Health Resources in Action (HRiA) on behalf of the Greater Mercer Public Health Partnership (www.healthymercer.org).
Findings affirmed that priority areas identified in the 2013 CHNA are still major concerns for the community, although a few new dimensions emerged. Those priorities include:
- Health Literacy and Disparities
- Safety & Crime
- Obesity & Healthy Lifestyles
- Substance Abuse & Behavioral Health
- Chronic Disease: Diabetes, Hypertension, and Cancer
Trenton continues to illustrate health disparities that often exist between a largely affluent, suburban community and a generally low-income, urban area in geographic proximity.
Challenges pertaining to access and health literacy are more profound; language barriers are more keenly felt; and issues of violence and quality of life in the community are rated far more negatively in Trenton than the County more broadly. This report quantifies those differences as they relate to the five priority areas.
Perhaps most telling is the finding that more than 55% of Trenton residents think it is difficult to live a healthy lifestyle in their communities and more than 58% feel their community is not a good place to raise a family.
