DATA INSIGHT

Hundreds of thousands visit Garrett County annually to enjoy outdoor recreation. Numerous public parks, lakes, and wooded trails make it desirable. However, some residents find it challenging to take advantage of recreational resources that our visitors access. In the recent publication of the 2022-2024 Community Health Assessment, 24.5% of adults reported they do not participate in leisure time physical activity, and 17.4% reported having poor to fair health according to the Indicators section of the report. In addition, 35.5% of the adult population is obese, with a BMI at or above 30. It’s known that “rural children and adults have significantly higher rates of obesity than our urban counterparts,” according to a research brief published by Active Living Research. Despite our challenges participating in physical activity, our community ranked Physical Activity as the third most crucial topic they want to address. We responded by creating a collective community initiative that put Garrett County in motion.

We started with our data to design GC In Motion to ensure an equitable and informed process that engages everyone! Below, you will find primary and secondary data sources that help us drive our programmatic decisions. In addition, we have real-time data sets, so anyone in the community can see how a program or intervention performs and join in the effort. We built an open-source population health framework because it’s not enough to simply have the data. How does data move us into action? The Garrett County Planning Tool, replicated in urban and rural communities across the Nation, is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and empowers the entire community to work collaboratively on strategies that move the needle in a transparent space where data is collected and acted upon. This is a homegrown innovation where everyone can sit at the table. Please join the discussion at mygarrettcounty.com.

One agency can’t do all the work to make a difference; this Data Insight captures the various factors and community partners that make physical activity accessible, safe, and an easy choice with policies and programs designed to reduce social and financial barriers to participation. Together, we provide miles of maintained multi-use trails, reduce barriers to utilization of our public parks, improve access to new types of movement through fitness classes, provide transportation to fitness clubs, and improve infrastructure to ensure persons with disability have access to outdoor spaces. We maintain a well-being blog and a community step challenge to keep physical activity in mind. We highlight national and state campaigns that foster activity and highlight local resources for those seeking more opportunities as we strive to eliminate health disparities and provide equitable access to services.

Get involved on a variety of levels:
If you prefer in-person meetings, contact information is available for leadership in the area of Physical Activity, along with a list of coalitions open to the public that address various issues related to physical activity in community health improvement efforts. Remember, you can always log in to mygarrettcounty.com and join the discussion in the Action Groups focusing on physical activity and check out the community impacts those programs are making. If you know of something taking place in the community that we may have missed, please let us know and help us get others involved in building a collaborative community as we work together to improve health in Garrett County.

Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9307466/
https://activelivingresearch.org/sites/activelivingresearch.org/
files/ALR_Brief_RuralCommunities_Sept2015.pdf

Telling a story about our data is vital to understanding the impact of programs, systems, and improvement efforts in our community. Here’s the baseline data from our current Community Health Assessment regarding physical activity. These data points are a collection of surveys and research and provide information for our community to create comprehensive strategies. These data points are not comparable outside of the individual survey instruments.

Assessment Data

Physical activity ranks third by community vote as one of the top health concerns. The chart below illustrates our community prioritization rankings in 2022 with the percentage of change in the next chart.

A interative version of this graph, with additional data, is available at: https://charp.garrettcountyapps.com/

A interative version of this graph, with additional data, is available at: https://charp.garrettcountyapps.com/

Focus groups were held as guided conversations about the top five issues people identified as their main concerns in our latest community prioritization survey. Below is the beginning of the focus group discussions about physical activity conducted in June of 2022.

To read the full analysis visit https://mygarrettcounty.com/cha2024/, and select the assessment narrative on page 10.

Focus Group Analysis

Physical Activity ranked third, up from eighth place three years ago at a 129% increase on consumer surveys. Discussions centered around our environment as it relates to physical activity, with complete consensus surrounding the beauty of our area, with most enjoying all four seasons. For adventurous people, there are also opportunities on public lands and moderate to challenging park trails. However, access is a huge obstacle for those who enjoy or require low-intensity activities or have disabilities. Very few sidewalks or designated bike paths exist. Unless people are willing to take the risk of walking or riding on the roads, there are very few options for outdoor exercise. People talked about cost and safety as barriers to physical activity. Some felt state parks are expensive to utilize and full of tourists during the summer, making them a less desirable option. However, several town parks were mentioned as unsafe because of broken or outdated equipment and used drug needles left in play areas, according to focus group participants. Many felt that the ski resort and swimming pool were not priced for local wages, making it difficult to enjoy the amenities within the county. One community member said, “I’m not driving 27 miles to swim in the pool and then pay extra for classes after I join.” Fitness classes and gym memberships are also expensive and lack childcare options. For the average working family in Garrett County, designated time for a physical activity routine for health is not the cultural norm. One community member said, “People are just getting by, with the demands of kids and sometimes working more than 40 hours a week, there isn’t time left, and if there was, I’d be too tired.” In every focus group, community members want more for kids to do and are concerned that they don’t spend time outdoors and playing. Obesity was touched on, and concern seemed to be focused on childhood obesity. Many attributed the lack of physical activity to device use and internet connection. Solutions to the issues included more free things to do, community events, and fitness opportunities. Similar to the last report, community members want a YMCA-type center in the community close to them.

Primary Data

MyGarrettCounty.com Action Group Data (Real-Time Data)

GC In Motion
https://mygarrettcounty.com/groups/gc-in-motion/

 

Prevent and Reduce Obesity
https://mygarrettcounty.com/groups/prevent-and-reduce-obesity/

 

Go! Garrett County
https://mygarrettcounty.com/groups/go-gc/

 

Secondary Data

Poor or Fair Health

This measure is an important indicator to understand the impact of physical and mental health on self reported health status.

Source: Page 134 – Garrett County Community Health Assessment Indicators Report – Garrett County – https://mygarrettcounty.com/cha2024/