New health data website for Larimer County

Community organizations, students, reporters, and interested county residents will find a useful source of health data from the newly-launched Larimer Health Tracker. This website can be valuable to those who previously relied on the Health section of the Larimer County Compass website, which was discontinued in 2012.

The new tool can be found online at www.larimerhealthtracker.org and serves as a hub for Larimer County health data collected by local, state and national organizations. Overall, more than 700 health indicators are available, including selected socioeconomic and environmental measures which strongly affect a community’s health status.

While national and state health data resources currently exist, they tend to be difficult to find and to navigate. The Larimer Health Tracker provides a user-friendly way to search for specific health indicators, while also displaying the information by age, gender, income and education level, where available. The site includes results of the Health District of Northern Larimer County’s triennial Community Health Survey, as well as Larimer County-specific health data from national and state data sets.

In 2012, the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment began conducting a comprehensive community-wide assessment of the health status of the community. This assessment was part of the initial phase of a five-year Community Health Improvement Plan headed up by LCDHE. In discussions with local leaders, human service agencies, and non-profit organizations, the need for a centralized location for local health data was identified.

Throughout Larimer County, agencies rely on health data to identify areas of concern, assess gaps in services in our community as well as to support the need for funding to help fill those gaps. The Larimer Health Tracker has the ability to show historical trends over time, as well as compare local, state, and national health indicators.