Assessing Health Challenges and Disaster Preparedness in Pamlico County, NC

Project Image

Project member(s):

  • Laura Brackett
    Nia Capers
    Praveen Dharmavarapu
    Sophia Park

Community partners:

  • Hope Clinic - Yolanda Cristiani, Clinic Executive Director
    Pamlico County Health Department - Lynn Hardison, Director of Nursing/Communicable Disease Program Coordinator
    Pamlico County DIsaster Recovery Coalition - Bob Fuller, PCDRC Chairman
    HeartWorks - Karen Prince, Executive Director; Debbie Stribling, Program Director

Assessing Health Challenges and Disaster Preparedness in Pamlico County, NC

Project overview

Pamlico County is a rural county located on the coast of Eastern North Carolina. The county is beautiful. Dolphins swim in the river amongst an abundance of sailboats and shrimpers while the welcoming community members celebrate summer with a blueberry festival or Croaker Festival. 

The rural, coastal setting, however, presents challenges that threaten resident health and safety. Residents experience high rates of chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. In general, many community members struggle to access healthcare due to rural healthcare barriers such as lack of urgent care and transportation, high healthcare expenses, and a shortage of providers. Hurricanes and other storms strike the area with a brutal force, resulting in extensive home damage and mold exposure for residents.  

In the summer of 2024, our Student Research Training (SRT) team lived in Pamlico County for 8 weeks conducting research on the county’s healthcare and natural disaster challenges. Our projects built off the past two teams’ (SRT 1 and SRT 2) research surrounding the same issues. We worked in partnership with Hope Clinic, the Pamlico County Health Department, HeartWorks, and the Pamlico County Disaster Recovery Coalition. Our research is composed of four main project streams: 

  1. Hope Clinic

Hope Clinic is a nonprofit, charitable clinic that provides free care to around 150 (as of July 2024) uninsured and underinsured patients living in Pamlico County as well as two other neighboring counties. Pamlico County and surrounding areas face significant healthcare challenges, including limited access to medical services, high chronic disease prevalence, and a high proportion of uninsured/underinsured residents. Hope Clinic has been working to address these issues through various initiatives. In partnership with Hope Clinic, we assessed the impact of Medicaid expansion by evaluating challenges faced by transitioning patients and identifying areas for improvement in the transition process. We also continued to evaluate the effectiveness of Hope Clinic’s Mobile Outreach Clinics (MOCs) by analyzing clinical data trends such as weight, blood pressure, and HbA1c, as well as assessing patient-reported outcomes and health management. Lastly, we explored various patient outreach methods, including developing a workplace wellness health program facilitated by Hope Clinic and identified other potential outreach strategies to increase Hope Clinic patient numbers.

  1. PCHD

The Pamlico County Health Department (PCHD) plays a vital role in maintaining and promoting the best health for the county. The PCHD provides a range of services and public health programs to ensure the best community health. The objectives of this year’s SRT with the PCHD are to assist with identifying the critical health issues in the county and strategies to address issues as well as increasing awareness of available health and social resources. 

The first goal of this project involves the Community Health Assessment (CHA), a survey that aims to understand the health needs and services that need improvement in the county. The SRT 3 team is primarily involved in survey development, data collection, analysis, and recommendations. The survey data will be used to inform community health priorities and strategic plans to address them. The second goal of this project is to create a Community Resource Guide with resources in the county and surrounding areas that address various lifestyle challenges, notably health, social, and financial. This is the first guide in Pamlico County with a comprehensive list of resources for individuals seeking help, yet have difficulty finding it.

  1. PCDRC

Pamlico County Disaster Recovery Coalition is a community-based organization that helps residents prepare for natural disasters and rebuild homes, repairing 275+ homes since Hurricane Florence in 2018 and bringing in over $7 million in funding and volunteer hours with the support of its partners.

The first objective for the PCDRC - SRT 3 work this summer was to draft a plan to evaluate the effectiveness of the PCDRC’s new mitigation based approach to home repairs. This approach involves home repair prior to a hurricane rather than simply repairing after a disaster. The second objective was to explore and gather preliminary data on mold in Pamlico County. This data can inform any future interventions by the PCDRC and future data collection. The final objective was to ensure the sustainability of these two projects that began this summer through organization and communication. The projects are designed to be expanded on by PCDRC staff, volunteers, and any future SRT members, therefore SRT 3 aimed to simplify this transition. 

  1. HeartWorks

HeartWorks is a program providing after-school and summer programming for children in grades K-8 who attend school in Pamlico County. Many of these children are considered high-risk and face various challenges that can impede their social-emotional well-being and academic success. The program aims to offer the support necessary to help these children thrive both emotionally and academically. In partnership with HeartWorks, we assessed children's social-emotional health and behavior using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in their afterschool and summer programs. Our project also focused on gathering parent feedback through surveys and focus groups to identify program strengths, areas for improvement, and understand challenges in supporting children's development. Additionally, a comprehensive aggregate database was developed to collect and manage clients' personal, academic, and health information, in order to enable tailored support and programming.

Project poster

Project notes

All students are continuing their work with community partners in developing final reports and presentations to the Board of County Commissioners, Health Advisory Board, Hope Clinic, PCDRC, PCHD, and HeartWorks boards. The data and findings in these reports will be used to drive future investments, grant applications, and accreditation for community partners. Two students are involved in independent studies to further their work from this summer. They will be continuing data collection and conducting analysis for the 2024 CHA and Mitigation project, which will be included in the final reports.

Media and resources

Food Lion Community Event
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Last updated on October 3, 2024