As Kendall County continues to grow, the Kendall County Health Department wants to know the health needs of those who live or work in the county.

In an attempt to determine those needs, the department is asking people to answer a community health improvement survey.

“It’s a way for us to get the community’s voice into our priorities,” said Kendall County Health Department Executive Director RaeAnn VanGundy. “We are reaching all four corners of the county through this survey.”

The survey, which is anonymous, is available at https://tinyurl.com/KCHD25Survey. To make it even easier, one can scan the QR code below to access the survey.

“This is a five-minute survey in which we can gather a lot of information,” VanGundy said. “The community will help us to identify what top three priorities we want to focus on for the next five years.”

In determining those priorities, the department also will be looking at data gathered at its Community Partner Assessment Event in July.

The Kendall County Health Department started the survey in mid-July. VanGundy is hoping to get as many people as possible to answer the survey in order to get a good, diverse mix of people.

“It’s all aggregate, so we don’t get individual responses,” she said. “People remain anonymous, but yet their voice is still being heard.”

Rachael Hendrickson, assistant executive director of the department, said the community survey will help determine the department’s priorities.

The department’s Community Health Improvement Plan 2021-2026 priorities include connecting the most vulnerable to assets that reduce socio-economic duress, supporting mental health and increasing community awareness to protect against vector-borne diseases.

Ticks and mosquitoes can transmit vector-borne diseases such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus.

“We want to hear everyone’s perspective from all walks of life to make sure that our work is informed by that since we serve community members in Kendall County,” Hendrickson said. “We want to make sure that our work aligns with what they think we need to be working on.”

More information about the Kendall County Health Department is available at its website, kendallhealth.org.