Thanks to the public’s help, the Dallas County Health Department has narrowed down five aspects they will be targeting in 2025.

According to Community Health Administrator Abigail Coder, during the month of December, the organization got the results back from the 2024 assessment to determine which areas would best be suitable for central Iowa residents. She notes that over 3,000 surveys were completed with the majority of responses coming from Polk County, and 337 were specifically from Dallas County. 

Coder outlines that after reviewing the results, the health department is prioritizing five areas of access to healthcare, mental health, nutrition, physical activity, and weight; social determinants of health, and substance use. She says the survey was taken between the months of March and May, and was a follow up to a similar study done in 2021. Coder describes that the health department reviews the assessment every three to four years to best help central Iowans.