Research Archive

Humboldt County’s widespread population and rural terrain make it hard for some people to get primary care, attend regular visits for chronic disease management or receive post-hospital care. Banned by the state at the time, community paramedicine as a model can meet the needs by training EMS workers to perform services at home. Read more about the model. View the Policy Conversation here. 

Aligning Forces Humboldt, which is located at the California Center for Rural Policy (Cal Poly Humboldt) has developed a successful method for assessing and maintaining patient involvement in its work leading the Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative in Humboldt County, Calif. View the interview here. 

The Community Health and Wellness Survey was conducted by the California Center for Rural Policy in 2013. The purpose of the survey was to assess community health indicators in the Del Norte and Tribal Lands region. The eight page written survey contained questions about wellness indicators pertaining to economics, education, healthcare, neighborhood built environment and community cohesion. View the reports here:

• Del Norte & Tribal Lands Community Health & Wellness Survey
• Tribal Residents
• Children Age 0-5
• Middle-Aged Residents
• Senior Residents

The North Coast Grantmaking Partnership asked the California Center for Rural Policy to create a new dental health plan after seeing that many Humboldt children needed expensive hospital-based treatment. The goal was to ensure kids get the education, preventive care, and early treatment they need to avoid serious dental problems in the first place. View the report here. 

The goal of this report was to assess from the perspective of long-term services and supports (LTSS) providers and consumers of LTSS the current state of long-term care services for seniors and adults with disabilities in the county; the gaps in services and recommendations for change and realignment. California Center for Rural Policy was contracted with the author of the report to analyze LTSS from the perspective of providers and consumers in order to determine responses/recommendations. View the report here. 

This Policy Conversation will explore the privacy framework related to electronic record keeping, explain the context for EMRs and provide an update on how North Coast Health Information Network (NCHIN) is helping Humboldt County. View the Policy Conversation here.

Del Norte County and the adjacent Tribal Lands (DNATL) is one of fourteen places in California participating in Building Healthy Communities (BHC), a ten-year initiative of The California Endowment (TCE). The goal of BHC is to “support the development of communities where kids and youth are healthy, safe and ready to learn.”

This report presents a recommended set of 20 core community wellness indicators developed through a community based process. These core community wellness indicators are intended to give a snapshot of the past and current conditions in Del Norte County and to help guide and assess outcomes resulting from improvement efforts. Community health or wellness indicators are measures that act as barometers for underlying community health. Through regular assessments using a common set of indicators, communities can determine if policy and systems changes are making a difference. Read the report here. 

All of rural California, and particularly the Redwood Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties), has an increasing population of older residents who are at risk of preventable falls. In fact, the Redwood Coast Region has recorded a higher percentage of falls among seniors than California as a whole. Fall prevention means that the home must be safe, but also that the community environment must be navigable so people are encouraged to venture outside and be active. View the Policy Conversation here. 

It is well established that oral health is integral to the overall health of the individual. Research has shown an association between poor oral health and numerous adverse health outcomes including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and pregnancy complications. Oral health diseases are preventable and treatable with good personal oral hygiene and routine professional care. Results from the Rural Health Information Survey, 2006 indicate that there are disparities in access to oral health care in the Redwood Coast Region. View the Research and Policy Brief here.

CPR can double or triple a person’s chance of survival from sudden cardiac arrest. However, it is mostly successful if performed within the first 5 minutes after the collapse. In remote rural communities having a neighbor with these skills could mean the difference between life and death. View the Research and Policy Brief here.

There has been much debate nationally about what should constitute a “medical home,” the notion that a central person should be designated to provide preventive care and coordinate with others about a patient’s needs. The California Center for Rural Policy embraces the widest possible definition of medical home. This is particularly critical in rural areas such as the Redwood Coast Region of California, where people are on average older, poorer, have higher rates of chronic disease—and are more likely to be medically uninsured. View the Policy Conversation here. 

Over the past few years, Redwood Coast hospital and health and human services workers have observed an influx of hospital patients, between the age of 45-60, with complex chronic illnesses who are frequently utilizing the emergency room (ER) and pose significant discharge challenges. View the Policy Conversation here. 

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in the United States, other than skin cancer. It is the second-leading cause of cancer death in women after lung cancer. Humboldt County has one of the highest death rates due to female breast cancer among all California counties. There is convincing evidence that screening mammography reduces deaths from breast cancer. Results from the Rural Health Information Survey, 2006 indicate that there are disparities in utilization of mammograms in the Redwood Coast Region. View the Research and Policy Brief here.

Initial work by the California Center for Rural Policy (CCRP) identified the need for a common set of community health indicators to help guide and assess outcomes resulting from improvement efforts in the region. Community health indicators are measures that act as barometers for underlying community health. In the fall of 2009, CCRP initiated a year-long process of facilitating a Working Group to develop a set of community health indicators known as the Rural Community Vital Signs.

The outcomes of this project are a set of 48 community health indicators with existing data and a “wish list” of 44 indicators that would be useful for measuring community health, but currently lack a good or readily available data source for all four counties (Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, and Mendocino). The Vital Signs developed in this project link to numerous issues in various arenas (social, health, environment, and economy) and are intended to track trends and inspire action initiatives aimed at improving health in the region. Read the full report here. 

Transportation is an important determinant of health affecting all spheres of community life. Results from the Rural Health Information Survey, 2006, indicate that transportation is a problem in meeting health needs for many residents in the Redwood Coast Region. Being poor, non-white or living in an area with low population density significantly increases the chance of transportation problems. View the Research and Policy Brief here.

This atlas contains a collection of GIS maps produced from research projects conducted by the California Center for Rural Policy (CCRP) at Cal Poly Humboldt (then Humboldt State University). All of the GIS maps were produced by the Institute for Spatial Analysis at Cal Poly Humboldt. View the report here. 

This report provides a profile of rural poverty and its health impacts. It contains a review of the literature exploring the relationships between poverty and health with a focus on rural poverty and child poverty. It also contains an analysis of U.S. Census data showing the geographic distribution of poverty in the Redwood Coast Region and variation in poverty by place, age, family structure and race/ethnicity. Results from RHIS are presented to show the association between poverty and numerous health indicators. The report concludes with a discussion about implications for programs, policy and research based on dialogue with rural community leaders. View the report here.

Rural residents often live quite a distance from hospitals and health clinics and as a result, getting the necessary medical treatment can be difficult. This is especially true for treatment of mental health problems where the number of people with unmet mental health needs has reached crisis proportions. View the document here.

Lack of health insurance or inadequate health insurance are significant barriers to receiving health care services. Results from the Rural Health Information Survey, 2006, indicate that insurance status plays an important role in whether or not people are able to get needed health care and receive recommended preventive health screenings. View the Research and Policy Brief here.

Very low food security is a measure of severe food insecurity resulting in reduced food intake, disrupted eating patterns or hunger. Food insecurity is associated with numerous poor health outcomes including: obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and poor cognitive, academic and psychosocial outcomes. Results from the Rural Health Information Survey, 2006, indicate that there are disparities in very low food security in the Redwood Coast Region. View the Research and Policy Brief here.

Results from the Rural Health Information Survey, 2006, indicate that a high percentage of households in the Redwood Coast Region have poor connectivity: phones, computers and the Internet. Households with poor connectivity are about twice as likely to have poor access to health care as households with good connectivity. Households with incomes below the federal poverty level are clearly disadvantaged with up to 14.2% reporting no phone, 45.1% reporting no computer and 55.4% reporting no internet access in their home. View the Research and Policy Brief here.

Del Norte County and the adjacent tribal lands (DNATL) is one of fourteen places in California participating in Building Healthy Communities (BHC), an initiative of The California Endowment (TCE). The goal of BHC is to “support the development of communities where kids and youth are healthy, safe and ready to learn.” For more information about BHC please visit The California Endowment. In order to support the work happening in DNATL, this report was created for the Healthy Klamath Coalition to provide some baseline data about Klamath residents. View the report here. 

The Rural Health Information Survey was conducted by the California Center for Rural Policy in the fall of 2006. The purpose of the survey was to assess health disparities, access and utilization of healthcare, and other determinants of health among residents in rural Northern California with the goal of providing useful information for planning and policy development. View the report here. 

The Rural Health Information Survey was conducted by the California Center for Rural Policy in the fall of 2006. The purpose of the survey was to assess health disparities, access and utilization of healthcare, and other determinants of health among residents in rural Northern California with the goal of providing useful information for planning and policy development. View the report here. 

The Rural Health Information Survey (RHIS) was conducted by the California Center for Rural Policy (CCRP) in the fall of 2006. The purpose of the survey was to assess health disparities, access and utilization of healthcare, and other determinants of health among residents in rural Northern California with the goal of providing useful information for planning and policy development aimed at improving health in the region. This is the largest and most comprehensive study of this type that has ever been conducted in this rural region of Northern California. This report was created for the Redwoods Rural Health Center (RRHC) in order to provide a snapshot of residents within their primary service area. View the report here. 

Selected findings from the Rural Health Information Survey. View the report here. 

Selected findings from the Rural Health Information Survey. View the report here. 

The Humboldt Food Policy Council (HFPC) is a network of diverse Humboldt County food systems stakeholders. A food system includes all the activities that are involved in food production including growing, harvesting, processing, transporting, marketing, eating, and disposing of food waste. Founded by the California Center for Rural Policy in 2009 with the vision that everyone in our community should have equal access to healthy food, the HFPC has since led to the inception of numerous food programs, grants and initiatives that are central to the health and vitality of the region. The HFPC works to enhance a regional food system that is equitable, culturally appropriate, and both environmentally and economically sustainable by facilitating collaborative partnerships of diverse stakeholders; and affecting relevant policies throughout the food system.

HFPC members include grocers, farmers, public health professionals, hospitals, economic developers, value added food producers, local food advocates, planners, food pantries, non-profits, elected officials, consumers, and concerned citizens. Stakeholders in the HFPC envision a sustainable food system that provides affordable and accessible foods for all, contributes to the economic viability of the region, and supports the sustainability of every part of the food system –from seed, to table, to soil.

Business Meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of every other month 3-4:30 p.m.  The HFPC also holds community events throughout the year. Read more here.

The direct connection between a healthy community and healthy food makes it critical to understand the Del Norte and Tribal Land’s food system. A food system includes all of the people and processes that are involved in taking food from seed to table. The quality, cost and availability of the foods in every community – at stores, schools and hospitals – are determined by the food system serving it. Read the 2011 Assessment here, and the 2019 assessment here. 

The Food Access and Pantry Services survey was initiated by Food for People, Humboldt County’s Food Bank to evaluate the services at its various pantry sites, assess the food security status of clients and additional needs. Food for People also included other questions regarding health care and other social service needs at the request of other community organizations.

The Community Benefits Department of St. Joseph Health System – Humboldt County generously provided funding for the survey administration and analysis. The Community Benefits Department of St. Joseph Health System – Humboldt County sponsors, develops, manages and sustains healthy community initiatives for the vulnerable populations of Humboldt County. The Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services generously provided funding for the analysis. The Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services aims to reduce poverty and connect people and communities to opportunities for health and wellness. The California Center for Rural Policy at Humboldt State University (CCRP) consulted on its administration and performed survey analysis and summary results. CCRP’s mission is to conduct research that informs policy, builds community and promotes the health and well-being of rural people and environments. Read the 2015 Survey results here, and the 2018 survey results here. 

Case study documenting successful broadband implementation strategies in rural communities. Download Report

Multi-phase strategic planning for healthcare workforce development across four northern counties. Download Report

Due to the economic downturn in 2007, many non-profit agencies are re-evaluating the systems they have in place to help the community. Humboldt County has been identified as having one of the highest rates of food insecurity and hunger statewide, highlighting the need for agencies that provide food for low-income people and families. One such agency is Food for People, Inc., the food bank for Humboldt County located in Eureka, California. Once economically stable families are now in need of assistance due to unemployment and increased food costs. Food pantries have identified a need for a more dignified way of seeking assistance. Instead of handing out pre-filled boxes, the concept of Choice Food Pantries gives customers the independence to choose the food that they will use. Read the full brief here. 

At the close of business, what happens to the salads and sides behind glass at the grocers deli counter? Or the tasty unserved leftovers from a catered lunch meeting? Despite the growing number of hungry people in the Redwood Coast region, edible food is ending up as compost or in the trash. Food is going by the ton into the waste stream, but this can be decreased if people donate rather than throw out edible food. Read the full brief here. 

Every year, thousands of tons of food enter the waste stream and must be shipped out of Humboldt County — instead of being used towards its intended function (to feed people), as evidenced by food insecure families in the area. There are environmental impacts as well. Producing food consumes water, another vital resource, and estimates show that more than one-quarter of water use is allocated towards food that is ultimately wasted. Aside from water, wasted food accounts for 300 million barrels of oil per year, or approximately 4% of U.S. consumption. In addition, food waste produces methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide, as it decomposes in landfills. Read the full brief here. 

This community assessment is a profile of Humboldt County’s food system “from farm to table,” and is meant to be a tool for stakeholders — farmers, consumers, nonprofits and policy makers alike. We hope this report is a resource by providing hard data, identifying food system needs, and helping target areas for change. Read the full report here. 

The Backpacks for Kids program provides food to children who are at risk of going hungry over weekends and school vacations. These breaks from school present a particularly challenging situation for children who depend on food programs such as free and reduced lunch to meet their nutritional needs. The Backpacks for Kids program seeks to fill this void and reduce the negative implications for a family without the means to meet their children’s dietary needs. Read the full brief here. 

Redwood Coast Connect (RCC) is a project of Redwood Coast Rural Action (RCRA), a regional network of community leaders in partnership with the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF). Envisioned to be the first phase in an ongoing initiative to make broadband internet available to all residents in the region, this study focused on analyzing:

• Demand-including willingness to pay, the relative importance of broadband to homes and businesses, present uptake rates, and potential for and challenges to demand aggregation. 
• Supply-including mapping of current coverage, identifying unserved and underserved communities, and identification of critical missing infrastructure. 
• Current policy climate-including identification of policy barriers to rural deployment as well as opportunities for advocacy.

Read the full report here. 

CCRP gathered input from approximately 100 individuals from health-related organizations to identify community health issues and research needs in rural California, providing a foundation for understanding rural research priorities and policy gaps. Read the assessment here.