Community Health Nursing: Non-Chicago Information

Health Information

Cook County:

For all communities located in Cook County, start at the Cook County Department of Heath http://www.cookcountypublichealth.org/

Search for "community profiles" in the top search box.
Click on "Community Profiles."
Scroll down and find your community in the bottom half of the screen. Click on the district where your community is located.
A large PDF will open. Search for your community information at the top of the screen.
Notice that all sorts of interesting mortality information is located here.

Lake County:

Start at the Lake County Government Website: http://www.lakecountyil.gov/

Hover over "County Government" and find "Departments A-I"
Select "Health Department."
In the new screen, hover over "Publications" and select "More Publications"
A wide variety of documents and PDFs become available to you: check out those you are most interested in, while acknowledging the fact that these are county-wide, not city-wide, statistics.
"Community Health Status Report" is a good summary document for county wide data on health measures

Gather More Data Using IPLAN

The IPLAN data system is managed by the Illinois Department of Public Health. It contains more than 100 health-related indicators at the state, county and community levels.

Click on http://app.idph.state.il.us Click on IPLAN Data System in the menu at left of screen, and then "county-level report."
Click on "Community Summary Report" for a list of all the health indicators in your town or village; years 1990 -2005 are available.
Select your county and town.
Choose "Community Level Report" if you want to create a customized report with certain health indicators and compare towns or years.

For state-level and county-level data, look at the Illinois Department of Public Health website: http://www.idph.state.il.us/health/statshome.htm

Take a minute to look over your options for data here. The "County Vital Statistic Tables" might be of interest to you, as might the Death Statistics or Birth Statistics.

Note: Be sure to read the Indicator Descriptions – click on "IPLAN DATA SYSTEM" on the left menu on the home page of IPLAN and then on Indicator Details on the home page for IPLAN Data System. These descriptions will help you understand exactly what is being measured and how, as well as which years the data was measured. (You'll also see a really brief description of the Healthy People 2010 standards here to give you some standard of comparison.)

Compare Your Municipality to Healthy People 2010

This publication gives national goals and status of leading health indicators – provides context in which you can understand certain health problems of your own community, for example AIDS or heart disease.
You can find it in the library reference section at Ref. RA395 .A3 H44
It is also available online at http://www.health.gov/healthypeople) Click on “Publications” and then on Healthy People 2010 volume 1 and volume 2. For updated information click on Latest Updates: Progress Reviews on the home page.

Gather Demographic Information Using Census Data:

For population data (age, race, ethnicity), income, education, housing, you’ll use U.S. Census reports (taken every 10 years).

Census 2000 results

They are available at: http://www.nipc.org

Click on Quicklinks and Census 2000 Updates.
Scroll down to Census 2000: Detailed 60-Page Demographic Profiles for All Counties, Townships, & Municipalities in Northeastern Illinois (March 19, 2004).
Click "Go to the 60 page profiles."
Click Municipalities.
Scroll until you see your community. Download the pdf file.
Please do not print all 60 pages of this report.
For a shorter summary of general demographs (age, race, etc.), click on: http://www.nipc.org/test/dp234_CA_2000.htm. Click on “Download the File”

1990 results

They can be found US Census website: www.census.gov .

Click on "American FactFinder" to the left of the screen.
Hover over "Data Sets" on the left of the screen. Click on "Decennial Census."
Click on the blue "1990 Census" tab at the center of the screen.
You can now chose between Summary Tape file 1 for summary data or Summary Tape File 3 for economic and racial data. Try each table to get complete statistics.
For whichever summary tape you've chosen, click on "detailed tables" in the center of the screen under the blue 1990 census line.
Click on the "name search" tab in the top center of the screen.
Click on the dropdown box under "Restrict Search to." Select "Illinois."
Type in the name of the community for which you need your information.
Hit Search.
Select your township, making sure it is the one listed in Lake County. Click on the "Add" underneath the box. Then click "show result."
Select the data you want to see. Hit enter.
Print out your reports. Notice that each set of data is identified above the table.

Note: The 2000 census results will not look identical to the 1990 reports, because some questions were phrased differently. Pay attention to the description of the data you are using.

Other Sources:

Lake County website http://www.co.lake.il.us

Click on "About Lake County." Then click on "Communities." Select yours. There may be a brief history and/or a link to the community's website. You can also click on the links to Sex Offenders and Government (Departments, such as Health)

Google Maps: (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl) -Type a major intersection of the neighborhood you are researching and hit search. Then, on the new map that loads, click "search nearby" to discover local parks, libraries, schools, grocery stores, whatever.

Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov Find the green “Environmental Information and Data” text on the left side of the screen. Search your community by zipcode or address to discover cancer threats to your neighborhood, or if there is a Superfund site.

Environmental Defense League: http://www.scorecard.org Search by a specific pollutant or environmental hazard (e.g., lead) to see how your community ranks.

Illinois Manufacturer’s Directory (Ref. T 12 .W5) – you can search by zip code to see what industries are located in your community area.

United Way. Human Care Services Directory of Metropolitan Chicago (Ref. HV 99 .C4 C532)

State of Illinois Crime reports: Start at http://www.isp.state.il.us/crime/cii2007.cfm . Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select "2007/2006 Crime Index Offense & Arrest Database (.dbf format)." Open the file as an excel file, and you will see all sorts of data in the spreadsheet you open.

Note that the guide to help you interpret this sheet is right below the database link: "Crime Index Offense & Arrest Database Record Layout and Field Contents Description (.pdf format)"
You can also look at your county's information by looking at section 2 of the report. by county for the past several years. (Only county-wide data is stored here).

State of Illinois sex offender database: http://www.isp.state.il.us/sor/. This is a list of registered sex offenders living in your communities. Click "I agree" at the bottom of this page, and then you can search by city name or zip code.