The 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment, quietly released by Achieve Healthy EscaRosa in February 2025, offers insights into the region’s most pressing health concerns. Unfortunately, very few local health care leaders are talking about the report.
- Dig Deeper: Every three years, community organizations in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties collaborate on a two-step process to understand and respond to health problems in our communities. The first phase of this process involves identifying local health issues and resources through a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). The second phase will outline the actions the community will take to improve residents’ health status. This is the seventh iteration of the Community Health Needs Assessment that has been conducted for the ‘EscaRosa’ community over 30 years. I have seen little improvement between reports.
The assessment, which surveyed over 2,600 residents and nearly 100 community leaders, identified four critical health priorities that demand immediate attention: overweight and obesity, mental health issues, substance abuse, and access to healthcare.
Steep Drop in Health Rating
Santa Rosa County residents reported better health outcomes, with the county ranking among Florida’s healthiest for health factors. Escambia County, meanwhile, faces more challenges, ranking in the lower-middle range for health outcomes statewide. The gap in perceived community health between the counties is notable—only 50% of respondents rated their community’s health as “good” or “very good” in 2024, down from 62% in 2021.
Mental Health Tops Concerns
A stunning revelation is that mental health services are the most difficult healthcare service to obtain. Both residents and community leaders ranked mental health at the top of their concerns, with 18.2% identifying it as critically difficult to access.
- Workforce challenges compound this shortage—Escambia County has one mental health provider for every 420 residents, while Santa Rosa faces an even more severe shortage at 950:1.
Overdose Leader
Drug abuse topped the list of unhealthy behaviors concerning both residents and leaders, with 16.4% identifying it as their primary concern. The data shows drug overdose deaths remain alarmingly high, with Escambia County recording 47 deaths per 100,000 residents—significantly higher than the state average of 31.
- White individuals were 1.6 times more likely to die from overdoses than Black individuals, highlighting the need for targeted intervention strategies.
Healthcare Barriers
The report identifies significant barriers to healthcare access. The top four obstacles residents face include long wait times (21.4%), doctors not accepting new patients (17.4%), insurance not accepted (14.1%) and cannot afford co-pays or deductibles (12.3%)
- While community leaders identified lack of health insurance as the primary barrier (ranked #1), residents placed it sixth on their list—suggesting a misunderstanding between perceived and actual challenges.
We Be Obese
The 2025 assessment introduced the concept of “culture of unhealthy living,” which ranked second among health problems. This broad category encompasses poor eating habits, lack of exercise, and other lifestyle factors that contribute to obesity. The adult obesity rates are 35% in Escambia and 31% in Santa Rosa—both exceeding the state average of 28%.
- Too Hard Box: The assessment identified several external forces affecting community health: inflation and affordability challenges, resource limitations, healthcare provider shortages, poor public transportation, and widespread misinformation about health topics. All are heavy lifts, which may explain why few community leaders have publicly discussed this report.
I will post the full report later.