Washington Township Health Care District presented its latest community health needs assessment to the Newark City Council, telling the city that Newark shows worrisome trends on infant mortality, diabetes, heart disease and severe mental‑illness emergency visits and asking for local partnerships to address the gaps.

The hospital’s chief of community support services, Angus Cochran, told the council the district covers more than 340,000 people across a Tri‑City area and that data and community focus groups produced 10 priority needs. “We are federally mandated to do this every three years,” Cochran said, and the district accelerated its most recent cycle to align with a regional consortium.

The assessment identified economic security, behavioral health, access and delivery of care, inequity and discrimination, cognitive decline, diabetes and obesity, heart and stroke, cancer, infant and maternal health, and unintended injuries as the district’s top concerns. Cochran said Newark specifically shows 14 indicators of concern grouped around maternal/infant outcomes, cardiac/diabetes conditions and emergency visits for severe mental illness.

Cochran summarized local data and community findings: the district population has dropped to just over 340,000 after a recent decline; only about 46 percent of Tri‑City residents speak only English at home; Newark’s median home sale price is roughly $1.2 million; childhood overweight/obesity rates have fallen since 2015; adult diabetes prevalence in Newark rose from about 8.2 percent previously to roughly 14.8 percent in the most recent series; and Newark’s infant mortality rate was shown at about 5.2 deaths per 1,000 live births versus an Alameda County average near 3.5 per 1,000.

Cochran also emphasized racial disparities in many measures. “When we look at life expectancy, the black population is significantly less than the city average,” he said. He noted emergency‑department visits for severe mental illness in Newark were more than 5 percent above the county average and that lung cancer mortality in Newark exceeds the county rate. On trauma care, Cochran said the district’s new trauma center treated more than 2,200 trauma cases in its first year, demonstrating local need.

Council members pressed for more detail and for next steps. Council member Del Potancio asked whether concerns about economic security were concentrated in particular age groups; Cochran said the stress spanned “from people in their twenties all the way up to seniors” and tended to concentrate in communities of color. Del Potancio also asked about culturally targeted behavioral‑health outreach; Cochran said Washington already partners with groups such as NARICA for South Asian communities, promotoras for Latino outreach, and is in discussions with Filipino community representatives.

On infant mortality, Council member Christine Little asked whether prenatal care had been examined. Cochran acknowledged the district has begun only preliminary work and said more research and targeted prenatal/postnatal outreach will be needed: “We don’t quite know what’s going on, and so I would beg for a little patience as we try and find out.” He said the district will work closely with its labor and delivery providers and with community partners to investigate causes and interventions.

Cochran outlined the district’s four proposed focus areas for the next three years: improving access and delivery of care (including planned urgent‑care sites and closer work with locally based federally qualified health centers), promoting healthy lifestyles (programs targeting diabetes, obesity and cardiac risk), cancer prevention and screening (noting a partnership with UCSF to “move physicians, not patients”), and preventing unintended injuries (trauma prevention, fall‑prevention and community training). He described existing programs the district runs, such as a Smart Heart walking challenge with roughly 200 enrollees who logged millions of steps, community screenings, support groups and outreach to schools.

Council members and staff praised the district’s work and asked for continued engagement. Vice Mayor Little and others emphasized the need to reach residents who fear immigration enforcement and therefore avoid care; Cochran said the district and county are increasing outreach through social media and community promotoras to reassure residents.

The hospital invited Newark to partner on initiatives including culturally tailored diabetes education, expansion of support groups (stroke, cancer survivorship), and co‑location or improved referral linkages with community clinics. Cochran said the district will refine the health improvement plan based on community input and seek local partnerships to implement changes.

The presentation concluded with council requests that the hospital present findings to local school boards and work with Newark Unified School District on youth‑focused prevention. Council members encouraged the district to return with specific partnership proposals and metrics for measuring progress.

Washington Township Health Care District’s analysis covered county and zip‑code level data, focus groups and key informant interviews; Cochran and the district emphasized that some Newark data points are limited by sample size and require careful investigation.

What’s next: the district said it will finalize a three‑year community health improvement plan, pursue partnerships with local clinics and schools, and continue outreach; the council asked hospital staff to report back with targeted proposals for Newark, especially on maternal‑infant health and behavioral‑health emergency visits.