The Wood County Economic Development Commission is asking county residents to help them, and in turn, help themselves.

The EDC’s Health and Human Services Committee is conducting a survey to determine health services needs, and the committee is seeking to have more participation.

Committee chair Gwen Winters said the survey results will help the EDC in recruiting health care professionals to the area, identify needed services and plan programs to address wellness and fitness, among other things.

The committee has engaged in outreach in numerous areas trying to spur more participation. Winters noted that the response to the survey is completely anonymous.

She said there has been some interest but seems to be some hesitancy about participation

More participation will result in better information to address health care needs.

The survey can be accessed on the EDC’s website at woodcountytx.com.

Cards concerning the survey have been distributed throughout the county and include a QR code that will take the user straight to the survey.

It takes just a few minutes to complete.

Winters noted that former Wood County Judge Lucy Hebron appointed a Wood County Health Care Council to talk about the needs.

One result was a countywide health fair last year that Winters said will continue and be held in different communities.

“There are a lot of health disparities in the area,” Winters said, and the survey results can help to address those.

Census and other data has identified East Texas as among the lowest ranked in the state in terms of several health, education and lifestyle issues.

One critical area is a high ratio of patients to primary care physicians, sometimes leading residents to have to leave the county to obtain care. 

Good health is an economic development issue from the stand point that a healthy work force is a better work force, Winters noted, and also the expanding health care field presents an economic development opportunity to bring medical personnel and facilities to the area.

Two examples are the new medical school in Tyler and the proposed memory health center in Quitman.

The health care field is also one that offers good jobs for local graduates.

A community wellness program could be developed, she explained, to address some of the needs identified by the survey.