Escambia County, Florida

Protecting, Promoting, and Improving the Health of Our Community

Where we are born, grow, live, work, play, learn, and age all impact our health. These social determinants of health include socioeconomic status, education, employment, neighborhood and physical environment, and access to health care and social support networks. Each of these factors together create unique community health service needs.

In order to respond to the needs of the community, FDOH- Escambia partners with numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations to protect and improve the public’s health. Notable partnerships include area hospitals and medical facilities, infectious disease practitioners, the University of West Florida, Pensacola State College, the Escambia County School District and Early Learning Coalition, emergency management, law enforcement, City of Pensacola, Emerald Coast Utilities Authority, Healthy Start Coalition, Opening Doors Northwest Florida, Naval Air Station Pensacola, Community Health Northwest Florida, Boys’ and Girls’ Club, and many more.

Community Health Planning During COVID-19

During 2021, community partners have been working towards creating a healthier and more equitable community. This year we began data collection and analysis efforts for the development of the community health needs assessment. This assessment will identify most

important health issues and most concerning behaviors. This assessment involves surveying community residents for their perceptions of the community, identifying health top ten causes of death, assessing capacity of the public health assessment, and identifying forces in our community that affect all those factors.

This year, during the survey phase, our organizations partnered with the Haas Center at UWF to provide a survey with dissemination and analysis. Over the two-month period, over 3,000 responses were collected. This is more survey responses than our previous needs assessment process in 2018. During analysis Dr. James Mead used census data to weight responses for populations that were underrepresented in the data. This analysis technique weights underrepresented population data more heavily and helps minimize the effects of having more survey responses from other populations. For example, although 63% or respondents were female, we were able to gain a better picture of the male perspective by weighting male survey responses. The full report was launched in January 2022 and can be found at EscambiaHealth.com.

In December 2021, Achieve Healthy EscaRosa, Achieve Escambia, and the Haas Center at UWF launched an interactive community dashboard. The Achieve Dashboard is a free, easy-to-use tool that will allow

users to better understand the realities that our community faces. With a focus on key indicators of education, health and social well-being, infrastructure, quality of place, and workforce and demographics, we hope local citizens, organizations and government leaders will utilize the dashboard to drive programming, align resources, and leverage new resources to help Escambia and Santa Rosa counties live well and thrive. The Achieve Dashboard can be found at achievedashboard.org.

Births and Deaths in 2020

Vital statistics play an important role in community health assessment and improvement. FDOH-Escambia’s vital statistics office maintains these records by issuing and reporting birth and death certificates. The data collected from these certificates is used to track death and disease for Escambia County residents. Data, like what is indicated below, was used in the Health Assessment process to determine priority areas for the current health improvement efforts.

- 3,790 resident births

-4,566 resident deaths

- 30 deaths under age 1

-20 fetal deaths (20 weeks gestation or greater)

*2021 Provisional Numbers from flhealthcharts.com

Demographics

Escambia County, Florida is the 21st (out of 67) most populous county in the state, with 1.5% of Florida’s population. Escambia County boasts a strong military presence with four naval facilities located within the county, including Naval Air Station Pensacola, Corry Field Station, Saufley Field Station, and Naval Hospital Pensacola. Military and Civil Service, education, health care, and retail are primary employment industries.

326,552 Escambia County Residents

493.9 Persons per Square Mile

Race: White 68.84% (224,799); Black 23.14% (75,563); Other 8.02% (26,190)

Age: <14 17.54% (57,290); 15-19 6.69% (21,845); 20-44 33.97% (110,916); 45-64 24.34% (79,491); 65+ 17.46% (57,010)

Social and Economic Characteristics

$50,915 per year MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME

57.3% LABOR FORCE as % of population 18+

7% UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

3181.2 CRIME RATE (index crimes** per 100,000 population)

90.5% GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL

26.5% HAVE AT LEAST A BACHELOR’S DEGREE

APPROXIMATELY 1 OUT OF 8 RESIDENTS DO NOT HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE

ALMOST 1 IN 4 CHILDREN ARE LIVING IN POVERTY (under age 18)