The Lincoln County Health Department is surveying county residents, asking what their view of a healthy community is and what residents would like to see in the future.

Jennifer McCully, Lincoln County public health manager, said input from residents will help direct goals for the Health Department for the next three-to-five years.

The online survey, which is six questions long, is mostly multiple choice with a couple open-ended questions.

Overall, what the health department wants to figure out is what factors people think are important to make a healthy community, said McCully.

The department put the survey on Facebook and emailed it out to everyone on their email lists, she said. The department is also planning to email the survey to schools in hopes that some teenagers will take it as well.

Public health has shifted a lot in the past couple years, she said. One of the questions listed is a sort of prompt to get people thinking broadly about health, not just about having access to health care, she said.

“We’ve taken on mental health, the jail inmate health, so, the sky really is the limit on what public health can do,” she said. A lot of built environment and even planning have a public health component.

McCully wants people to share what a healthy community looks like to them. It is important to know what people want, she said.

The answer doesn’t have to be about specific ways to achieve a healthy community, she said. It can be something as simple as wanting to see more people out and about and engaged in physical activity around town.

Aside from basic demographic questions, the survey asks what people consider a “key component” of community health. It also goes on to ask what a healthy Lincoln County looks like as well as how the Health Department can achieve that vision.

McCully said the survey will be available through June 30.

The survey can be found on the Lincoln County Health Department Facebook page. It will also be linked in the online version of this article.