Holly Brekhus

Residents of First District Health Unit’s seven county area are invited to give their 2 cents worth in a recently released community health survey. That 2 cents could be converted in a drawing to one of four $25 gift cards.

FDHU Executive Director Holly Brekhus said it has been about 10 years since the last community health assessment, although that assessment didn’t include a broad community survey.

She said the health unit would love to get at least 9,000 responses, representing about 10% of the district’s population. The district serves the counties of Bottineau, Burke, McHenry, McLean, Renville, Sheridan and Ward.

The survey can be found at fdhu.org or a copy can be obtained from the health unit through December. At the end of the year, respondent demographics will be examined to ensure a diverse representation, and the survey period could be extended if necessary. FDHU expects to complete the analysis to be able to release results in March.

The survey asks about satisfaction with affordable housing, healthcare options, transportation options, neighborhood safety, and access to healthy foods, reliable internet and well-paying jobs. It asks about the sufficiency and use of health care facilities and asks respondents to identify what they feel are the top five most important health issues, community needs and issues facing children and teens in the community. Respondents also are asked to identify the three greatest strengths of their communities.

FDHU will be using an AI platform designed for public health assessment to analyze the results. The platform allows for entering other available data as well to get a bigger picture of health needs and attitudes in the community.

Survey results help guide decisions about programming. Brekhus said grant programs often have their own specific focuses, but funds received from state aid and from local governments in the seven-county area allow for more local discretion and can be utilized to address issues identified by the public in the survey.

Brekhus said mental health services were top of mind for a focus group during the last health assessment, which led to offering CredibleMind, a digital platform that helps people with their mental health and well-being.

“I anticipate that will be pretty similar this time. Mental health is still a big concern,” she said.

A new federal grant for rural health initiatives in North Dakota also could provide a source of funds to tackle issues in the district, Brekhus said. Dollars are expected to be granted to local health units through an application process.

“We’ll see what the grant application looks like when it comes out, but we’ve been brainstorming,” Brekhus said. “Everybody across the state has kind of been brainstorming as far as public health – what can we do collectively to move the needle more?”

FDHU launches babies’ milk depot

First District Health Unit in Minot has partnered with Mothers’ Milk Bank to serve as a collection depot for donated human milk for babies.

Mother’s Milk Bank has provided donor human milk to infants in the United States for 40 years. Donor human milk is the first choice for babies when mother’s milk is not available, the organization stated.

Holly Brekhus, executive director at FDHU, said interested donors should contact Mother’s Milk Bank at 303-869-1888 or mothersmilk@rmchildren.org. From that first step, prospective donors will be directed to FDHU for the necessary blood screening and will receive instructions on home storage until milk can be delivered to the depot. FDHU will ship donations to Mother’s Milk Depot for distribution, often to hospitals to support premature babies, Brekhus said.

For more information, people can call FDHU at 852-1376.