Carson Tahoe to unveil community health survey

About 20 percent of people in Carson City could not see a doctor in the past year because of costs, up from 8.1 percent in 1999.

That's according to a new community health assessment Carson Tahoe Regional Healthcare will unveil Tuesday that surveyed 800 adults in Carson City, Douglas, Lyon, Storey and Washoe counties. The survey has a margin of error of 3.5 percent and was conducted by polling firm Profe-ssional Research Consultants of Omaha, Neb.

"It's come to our attention that it's been close to a decade since a survey was done at least by us and, as far as we know, by anybody as to what are the community's perceptions of the health needs," said Ed Epperson, the president and CEO of the Carson City hospital.

The findings, which were compared to actual state health data, will be presented at a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday inside the Plaza Conference Center, 211 E. Ninth St. The event is free.

About 500 invitations also have been sent to community leaders and political candidates to attend the meeting.

Other key findings that will be discussed at the meeting include the rate of diabetes increasing from 7.4 percent to 12.2 percent from 1999 to 2010 in Carson City while the rate of limiting disabilities increased in Douglas County from 19.9 percent to 28.3 percent in the same period.

Other concerns include an increase in the rate of heart disease, substance abuse and obesity. More people also reported they were unable to access prenatal care.

On the other hand, the rate of female deaths from breast cancer have decreased, the rate of pneumonia and influenza mortality has decreased and more people are using seat belts.

"I don't think we'll have a whole lot of answers at the meeting next week," Epperson said. " I think we're going to raise a whole lot of questions and I hope that we will prioritize how do you go after these things and what do you do about it?"

The entire survey will be presented on Tuesday.