A public health collaboration launched in the rural areas of the Finger Lakes region this week.
Eight counties including Ontario, Wayne and Livingston have partnered to launch a survey with the aim of better understanding the health care needs of the people living in those communities.
“We're trying to identify barriers that we maybe have not thought of before, or that we maybe have not prioritized enough,” said Kate Ott, director of public health for Ontario County.
The survey has more than 30 questions on the medical, dental and mental health experiences of individuals and their families.
Ott said the goal is to discover what setbacks contribute to disparities in rural health care and get ahead of them.
“We're always trying to look upstream in public health,” she said. “People get sick. How can we prevent this person from getting sick?”
Ott said the survey will be distributed via email or will be accessible at frequently visited public spaces like libraries.
She said the deadline to complete the survey is the end of October.
“We're out there wanting everybody to have great access (to health care) all the time,” Ott said, “We think obtaining health care should be more of a right than a possibility or an opportunity.”
