Last month, Florida Voices for Health hosted the St. Petersburg Solutions Summit, showcasing our year-long project in south Pinellas County. The project, which included surveys and focus groups, explored the social barriers to health care unique to South St. Pete.
The high-level impact of social determinants on the health of South St. Petersburg have been
previously well documented. However, a clearer understanding of the specific barriers to care were
needed before local leaders could adequately address the disparities that persist in communities of color. The Healthy Florida – St. Pete Project took a grassroots approach to identify and quantify the specific local barriers to health care for the most vulnerable neighborhoods of south St. Pete.
The report revealed several concerning trends, but also highlighted opportunities for significant improvement. Some of the key findings include:
Out-of- pocket costs created a greater barrier to receiving services for uninsured respondents than for insured respondents but having to incur costs to pay for health services prevented substantial health care delivery for both insured and uninsured respondents.
Food security provided the greatest explanatory value for health status followed by insurance status, highest education achieved, and household income level.
Being insured did not have significant relationship to either the report of emotional distress or ability to receive care for the distress. Respondents that reported emotional distress rated their overall health significantly lower.