New indicators added to state’s healthy community data portal

The Division of Public Health recently announced updates to its My Healthy Community data portal since its launch in May.

My Healthy Community allows Delawareans to access information about the overall health of their communities. The portal delivers neighborhood-focused population health, environmental and social determinant of health data to the public, and allows users to navigate the information at the smallest geographic area available, and understand and explore data about the factors that influence health.

New health indicators include information about community safety, maternal and child health, healthy lifestyles, health services utilization, infectious diseases, lead poisoning, suicide and homicide. Data indicators serve to highlight Delaware's progress in meeting health care benchmarks as part of the department’s ongoing efforts to bring transparency to health care spending and to set targets for improving the health of Delawareans.

“When communities become aware of the level at which these issues are occurring in their neighborhoods, it can spur action that can improve the quality of life for current and future generations,” said DPH Director Dr. Karyl Rattay. “We highly encourage Delawareans to explore the data on the portal – especially the recently added datasets – to better understand their community’s health and the environment in which they live.”

Residents can search health indicators by street address, ZIP code, census tract, neighborhood, town/city, county and state. In addition, they can compare their community's health measures with other Delaware communities, their county, and the state as a whole, as well as view data trends over time. To ensure compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, not all data can be made available at every level, although the system is designed to provide data for the smallest geographic area when possible.

Delaware residents can now explore a variety of data indicators in the categories of environment, chronic disease, mental health and substance use, healthy lifestyles, community safety, maternal and dhild health, health services utilization and infectious disease.

For more information, go to www.MyHealthyCommunity.dhss.delaware.gov.