**** Press Release ****

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5, 2009
Contact: Oak Creek Health Department
             Judi Price, Health Officer (414) 768-6525

             Aurora Health Care
             Ron Irwin (414) 647-3405

OAK CREEK HEALTH DEPARTMENT AND AURORA HEALTH CARE
PLAN COMMUNITY HEALTH SURVEY

Oak Creek, WI -- The Oak Creek Health Department, Aurora Health Care and the Center for Urban Population Health Research are working in partnership to conduct a community health survey beginning this month. The survey will supplement a prior community health assessment conducted in 2003 with updated data and the ability to analyze trends over time.

The survey will provide valuable data for continued evaluation of community needs and help guide government, not-for-profit and volunteer organizations as they fashion services to meet the most pressing needs of the community. The survey will be conducted between October and November. About 400 area residents will be interviewed by telephone. One addition to this year’s survey is that some residents may be contacted by cell phone. “We recognize that more residents are using cell phones as their primary home phone and it’s important that we reach a good cross section of our county,” said Judi Price, Oak Creek Health Officer.

“I would encourage all residents of our City to help us with this research,” said Price. “If you are among those who receive a phone call, please take the time to answer the survey questions."

The survey focuses on issues such as access to health care, tobacco use, alcohol use, diet, physical activity, cancer prevention, heart health, injury prevention, immunizations, communicable diseases, mental health and chronic disease. The survey responses will be completely anonymous.

The survey will take about 18 minutes to complete. It is being conducted by Management Decisions, an independent research firm that specializes in community surveys.

The survey in Oak Creek is part of a broader initiative Aurora Health Care spearheaded across 30 communities in eastern Wisconsin in 2003. In total, more than 16,000 adults were surveyed. Follow up surveys will be conducted in one third of these communities each year until 2010 to provide updated data. The results of the surveys in Oak Creek and other communities will be released later this year. The 2003 survey reports are posted at www.aurora.org/commhealth

These community health surveys are aimed at meeting several objectives:

• Gathering local data to document annual health status related to the 11 health priorities established by the state health plan.
• Identifying local health behaviors or risk factors that present opportunities for health promotion and health care cost reduction.
• Tracking the success of community health improvement activities

The surveys also will allow Aurora to document population health indicators to help guide its clinical quality improvement efforts.

The survey in Oak Creek is being paid for by a grant from Aurora Health Care.

Aurora Health Care is a not-for-profit Wisconsin health care provider and a nationally recognized leader in efforts to improve the quality of health care. Aurora offers services at sites in more than 90 communities throughout eastern Wisconsin.