The State of the County Health Report 2022 provides community partners, stakeholders, and the general public with an update on the priority health issues identified in the 2020 Community Health Assessment and the strategies implemented to address these issues. The Montgomery County Department of Health, FirstHealth of the Carolinas, and members of the Montgomery County 2020 Task Force collaborated to complete the 2020 assessment. The top three community health priority issues identified were: 

1. Diseases of the Heart 

2. Substance Abuse and Mental Health 

3. Health Equity 

To view the 2020 Community Health Assessment, please visit the Montgomery County Department of Health’s website at www.montgomerycountync.com/departments/health-department. 

The following report includes progress made on each of the three priority health issues as well as demographic, morbidity, and mortality data for Montgomery County and the state of North Carolina. The last section in the report discusses emerging issues in the field of public health that are being addressed in Montgomery County: Mpox and Food Insecurity. 

Progress on CHIPs

Montgomery County Department of Health was able to expand their outreach and communications with community groups and partners during 2022. This was in part due to the relief of some COVID-19 restrictions within the community. During this time, staff worked to promote healthy choices related to the health priorities identified in the 2020 Community Health Assessment. This includes: 

- Training educators in the CATCH my Breath and other tobacco cessation educational course to encourage students to stop the use of vaping and using tobacco products 

- Partnering with the Better Together Montgomery group as well as FirstHealth of the Carolinas to increase community access to walking trails and safe areas for outdoor play to increase communities that support healthy lifestyles 

- Partnering with the Sandhills Opioid Consortium to promote the Peer Support Specialist for her work in recovery and harm reduction education 

- Continuing the work of the safe sleep program to provide safe sleep materials to community members to help support healthy, equitable communities that offer complete social, physical and mental well-being to all its residents at all stages of life

Mortality 

The leading causes of death for Montgomery County was collected from the State Center for Health Statistics, with the most recent data being from 2019. The data shows that the leading causes of death have had little change from that represented in our 2020 Community Health Assessment. Compared to the leading causes of death in North Carolina (Cancer, Diseases of the Heart, and Chronic lower respiratory diseases), Montgomery County ranks slightly lower for the top three causes of death than that state level. 

Morbidity 

COVID-19 cases have shown a significant decline since the beginning of 2022. With a total of 3,847 reported cases, Montgomery County ranks lower than the state average for cases per each reporting week. (Moving forward, COVID-19 case data will be reported in a different manner).

MonkeyPox (Mpox) 

MonkeyPox was first identified in Montgomery County in August 2022. With the prevalence of the infection, our staff were able to educate community members on the proper infection control techniques and isolation protocols. 

Food Insecurity 

Identified in a current food assessment as well as the FirstHealth of the Carolinas CHNA, food insecurity has become a topic of discussion in Montgomery County within the past year. During the beginning of COVID, we saw many changes in food distribution sites and the allotment of food for each family. We are working within our community groups to ensure that the food distribution is still meeting the needs of our community as well as assessing the healthiness of the food being distributed. 

New

Utilization of Opioid Settlement Funds 

Montgomery County was allotted funds to increase the support of substance abuse resources. The current Board of Commissioners is responsible for allocating funds throughout the community and ensuring the funded partners are assisting the community to the best of their ability. Our current partner, Sandhills Opioid Consortium, has been allotted funding from the board to support the efforts of a designated Peer Support Specialist. This peer support specialist is housed within the department of health building and provides community members increased access to care revolving around recovery and harm reduction.  

T2 Diabetes Education 

Our education staff partnered with FirstHealth of the Carolinas to train in the T2 Diabetes prevention program. This program will allow our staff to implement a yearlong class for community members to focus on the importance of a healthy lifestyle when presented with pre-diabetes markers. 

Discontinued 

COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics 

During 2022, our clinic continued hosting vaccination days for community members to receive their most up to date vaccine or booster for COVID-19. Due to the expansion of the availability of the most current COVID-19 vaccine, we limited vaccinations to appointments only. Through the availability of self-administered COVID-19 test kits from state partners our clinic was also able to provide community members with free testing kits.  

Advancing Equity

The state level funding for the advancing equity program ended during the current fiscal year. Although the funding has been removed, MCDH is dedicated to continuing the work of the program to help improve our services and the care the community receives. Our staff continue to partner with our external equity committee and work to improve our services through policy development and change.