DAVENPORT, Iowa — A new health report released Thursday shows three areas that need improvement in the Quad Cities.
For more than 20 years, local hospitals and health departments have put together studies on health in Rock Island, Scott and Muscatine counties. Nicole Carkner, executive director of the Quad City Health Initiative, helped work on the report.
"We worked with a consultant to do a survey of adults in the Quad City area, and we also looked at secondary data, and then through our local partners we convened a series of focus groups with community members to ask them questions about health and health in the community overall," Carkner said.
The top issue is mental health. Metris like stress, depression diagnoses and mental health treatment are at higher rates than this same study found three years ago. More than 29% said they have fair or poor mental health, up from about 17% in 2021. 47% said they have symptoms of chronic depression, up from about 35% in 2021 — but comparable to the U.S. average.
In response, Carkner's organization helped develop the Zero Suicide Initiative.
"We’re collaborating with the Quad Cities Open Network on this project of the Zero Suicide Initiative to try to help provide training in the community, to encourage people to understand that suicide is preventable," Carkner said.
Another issue is healthcare. Nearly 53% reported difficulty accessing healthcare. That's due to cost, transportation, office hours or language barriers.
"We have a lot of very wonderful resources in our community," Carkner said. "But sometimes getting folks the information they need when they need it can be challenging."
Nutrition and exercise is another topic needing improvement. Less than 25% are a healthy weight, and about 26% say they have a hard time buying fresh produce. Carkner said the Be Healthy QC Coalition is trying to fix that.
"It’s actually a long-standing coalition we’ve worked with for a number of years, and it’s all about ways we can help create a culture of health in the Quad Cities, to really help to create an environment where people can make healthy choices regarding what they eat and physical activity during the day," Carkner said.
That coalition is behind qctrails.org, a map of non-motorized walking trails in the area.
"So I know it's starting to get colder now and it's not quite as nice to be outside, but many of our trails in the Quad Cities are four-season trails, and they're wonderful amenities," Carkner said.
The study wasn't all bad news. Unemployment decreased from 6.6% to 4.6%. Fewer people died from cancer, pneumonia and drug overdoses, and more people have dental insurance.
You can find a copy of the full report here.