KANNAPOLIS — The Healthy Cabarrus Executive Committee is official inviting guests to participate in the Cabarrus County – Community Health Needs Assessment Summit on Thursday, Oct. 19.

The event will be held at the Cabarrus County Milestone Building, located at 4855 Milestone Ave in Kannapolis.

Several months ago, Atrium Health and Novant Health officials approached the Cabarrus Health Alliance (CHA) about exploring a potential partnership with CHA and Healthy Cabarrus to align community health needs assessments with the two hospital systems for a 2025, 3-year cycle.

After much discussion with the Healthy Cabarrus Executive Committee, CHA Board of Health and Leadership, it was decided to delay the Cabarrus Community Health Needs Assessment process by one year, pushing the start to fall 2024 with a 2025 completion. Here are a few reasons why:

• Cabarrus County falls within NC DHHS Region 4 Health Departments and currently eight of the 11 counties are on a 2025, 3-year cycle. Cabarrus, Cleveland and Alexander are the only health departments out of alignment.
  • Alignment with regional counties will increase collaboration among health departments and help to improve outcomes since health and citizens do not stop at county lines.
• N.C. DHHS will be releasing standardized Community Health Needs Assessment survey questions for required use in fall 2024. Delaying will ensure that our primary data collected by community members aligns with information captured throughout the state.
• Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there is great momentum around the current identified needs: housing, behavioral health and early childhood education. COVID-19 took away at least two years of potential impact, so the additional time will allow our community to maintain the current direction and strategies without interruption.

The event will be from 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m., lunch included. The summit will provide an update on the identified priorities (housing, behavioral health, early childhood education), information related the realignment and new emerging trends related to the public health and well-being.