The San Bernardino County Department of Public Health (SBCDPH) uses geographic information system (GIS) technology to improve decision-making and use resources more effectively. SBCDPH began their GIS journey with a single map to track environmental health key performance indicators (KPIs). Since then, the use of GIS technology has expanded into numerous areas better serving the people that live and work in San Bernardino County.
Healthcare IT Today spoke with three representatives from SBCDPH to learn more about how they have deployed GIS technology:
- Serene Ong, Geographic Information Systems Analyst
- Christopher M. Aquino, Data Manager
- Lap Le, Statistical Analyst
Addressing Community Concerns
SBCDPH encompasses many different programs: animal care & control, children’s services, communicable disease, environmental health, family health services, HIV/AIDS services, preparedness & response, and more. Many of these programs use dashboards, online maps and apps built on Esri’s ArcGIS.
“Our dashboards are designed to address community concerns,” explained Ong. “We wanted to be able to help the schools so we built a dashboard for that. We wanted to help cities understand what was going on with the restaurants in their jurisdictions so we built an app for that. Our use of GIS technology grew. Now we have dozens of public and internal maps, dashboards, and apps.”
The GIS dashboards are so integral that the SBCDPH has invested the time and effort to automate the flow of data from source systems and from information collected by county employees in the field.
Environmental Health
SBCDPH’s journey with GIS technology started with environmental health.
“We had to track over 10,000 assets,” recounted Aquino. “We needed to know the location of everything from restaurants to mosquito traps. We also needed to be able to see the KPIs related to each of those assets.”
What used to be on lengthy spreadsheets now resides in an online interactive map where the data can be viewed in San San Bernardino County Department of Public Health aggregate at a regional level or be seen as an individual asset. This map became the springboard for GIS technology in the county.
“The ability to visualize data on a map allows us to make more informed decisions about the community,” said Le. “Now we can more easily use data to have a lasting impact on the community.”
Watch the interview with Serene Ong, Christopher Aquino, and Lap Le to learn more about how SBCDPH has deployed GIS technology.
Learn more about San Bernardino County at: https://main.sbcounty.gov/
Learn more about Esri at: https://www.esri.com/en-us/industries/health/overview
Learn more about GIS for Health at: https://www.healthcareittoday.com/gis-for-health/
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