EPHRATA — Ephrata and Soap Lake residents are being invited to tell the Grant County Health District what they think are important health-related challenges in the county during a “listening session” from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Ephrata City Hall, 121 Alder St. SW.  

Participants will also be asked for their ideas on how to meet the challenges they identify, according to a GCHD press release. Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. 

It’s the last in a series of meetings designed to find out not only what Grant County residents think are the biggest health challenges, but also their suggestions for solutions. Meetings have been held over the summer in Grand Coulee, Mattawa, Moses Lake, Quincy and Royal City.  

Health district officials will review some of the findings from the biannual Community Health Assessment as a place to start the discussion. 

The CHA was released in April and contains information on demographics, life expectancy, individual behaviors that can affect health, access to health care, food and waterborne illness and other environmental factors. It’s used to identify health-related problems in Grant County, look at causes for health issues and address those problems. The “listening sessions” are the next step in the process.  

The goal, according to the GCHD press release, is to determine strengths and weaknesses when it comes to health in Grant County, ways to improve health and any obstacles that may pop up to make that job more difficult.  

From those will come the Community Health Improvement Plan, which proposes ways to address the health challenges identified. It helps identify priorities and provides benchmarks to measure progress. 

The CHA found that people who responded to a GCHD survey identified access to mental and behavioral health services as one of the county’s biggest health-related challenges. Respondents said they have less access to primary care in Grant County, and less access to dental care.  

Fewer Grant County residents had health insurance than the state average, according to the report data, but in 2020 more were using Medicare than the state average.  

Life expectancy was lower in Grant County than the statewide average in 2020, and the mortality rate was higher than the state average. Both adult and youth obesity were higher in Grant County than the statewide average, but the diabetes rate was lower. 

The birth rate fell in the period 2010 to 2020, both in Grant County and statewide, but the county’s birth rate was higher than the state average. The county’s overall premature birth rate was similar to the statewide average, but it was higher for Hispanic women than whites.