The Virginia Atlas of Community Health is a web based application that
includes population, economic and health indicators at the locality and ZIP
code level.The community health status indicators include indicators of
population demographics, births, mortality, disease, hospitalization, health
insurance status, and other important measures of community health status. The
community health service indicators include indicators of the supply of
community health services for each locality. Atlas users can either generate a
report of the range of locality or ZIP code indicators or create a thematically
colored planning district map of up to two variables that will allow users to
quickly evaluate the health of their community at the locality and ZIP
code level. The indicators are accompanied by text explaining how to interpret
the data at the local level.
The Virginia Atlas of Community Health was created to impact community
health improvement projects across the Commonwealth. We believe the Atlas
will: 1) stimulate interest in community health improvement by helping local
leaders compare their community’s health status to that of other communities;
2) help local organizations identify their most pressing health needs,
particularly within small geographic areas; 3) provide information on community
health resources to help local organizations identify community service gaps;
4) provide data to justify funding requests from federal, state, local, and
private sources; and 5) provide data for evaluating improvements in community
health over time.
The health of Virginia is determined by the health of its local communities.
Each local community has its own particular health concerns and system of
health services.In virtually every community there are local public health
agencies, hospitals & health systems, clinics, health professionals,
businesses, faith communities, and other organizations working to improve the
health of the local citizenry. These local organizations need comprehensive,
accurate information on community health status in order to focus their limited
resources on the most pressing problems and measure their progress. They also
need information on the supply of community health services available to help
address community health needs.
While various state agencies and other organizations do publish a wide range
of community health information, it is often of little use to local
organizations involved in community health improvement. From a local
perspective, the major weaknesses of existing data sources are: 1) the data
must be obtained from multiple sources with sometimes incompatible reporting
formats; 2) the data are not always accompanied by adequate narrative to help
local organizations interpret the data for their area; and 3) the data are
typically provided at the locality, regional, or state level, and not useful
for planning projects within smaller geographic areas. Consequently, local
organizations with an interest in community health improvement are forced to
proceed without adequate information or spend thousands of dollars in staff or
consultant time to develop the information they need.
The Virginia Atlas of Community Health will put clear compelling data
in the hands of those who can influence decisions at the local level and create
the most impact for health. The application is supported by a dedicated web
server and utilizes Altamap software linked to a massive data file of 65 data
sets for each of 887 Virginia ZIP codes. Data was obtained from public and
private sources including the US Census, Virginia hospital discharge data,
Public Health birth and death records, Virginia Department of Education,
Virginia State Police, Economic Development Partnerships and other sources.
Complete access to the Atlas is available through electronic
registration. The information required for registration will be used to poll
users in order to improve the functionality of the application, seek input for
new data sets, and provide feedback for sponsors. If you would like to register
with the Virginia Atlas of Community Health, please click on the
following button.
The Virginia Center for Healthy Communities, initially funded through the
Turning Point grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, developed the Virginia
Atlas of Community Health in consultation with Community Health Resource
Center, Inc. The data used to develop the ZIP code level maps and the
city/county and ZIP code level reports is publicly available. The Virginia
Center for Healthy Communities has developed this resource to enhance community
health improvement strategies.
The Virginia Atlas of Community Health is generously supported by
members of the Consortium on Health Philanthropy. Their partnership has made
free access available to everyone who would benefit from using this resource
tool for community health improvement. Sponsors of the Atlas include:
