The Community Health Promotions Council has asked Fort Jackson's workforce and families to take the temperature of the installation.

The council has advertised heavily and distributed widely a Community Strengths and Themes Assessment polling Soldiers, Family members, retirees and civilian employees about their perspectives on health issues at Fort Jackson.

"We want to know where we need to improve," said Erica Parks, Fort Jackson health promotion officer. "We want to take those pressing public-health issues and concerns and see if we have resources on the ground (to manage) them."

If the installation cannot deal with all health issues directly, it may have to turn to others in the community -- helping "us identify who we need to build relationships with outside of the gate," Parks said.

Among the questions on the survey are:

* What are the top five health problems in your community?

* What are the three most important factors for a healthy community?

* Do you participate in programs on the installation?

The survey is available on Sharepoint for anyone with a Common Access Card, she said. The post's Public Health Command office also is taking the survey directly to the public in search of feedback from family members and civilian employees.

"There are eight other installations that have done this survey," Parks said. "Across the board, most of them have had very poor turnout for getting feedback … from civilians, family members and retirees."

At Fort Jackson, hard copies of the survey have been circulated at such recent events as Big Day Out and the ATC Town Hall Meeting.

"I just love getting out in the community and seeing people face to face," said Sarah Porter, Fort Jackson Health Promotion Program assistant. "Sometimes there can be a disconnect. You can stay in the office and people don't know you. It's important for me as a public health official to go out into the community."

Parks said that for the survey to be productive, the installation must trust that it has value.

"People don't care about how much you know until they know how much you care," Parks said. "When it comes to public health, you have to go out into the community … and you have to go back and let them know what you're doing with their input."

More than 200 surveys have been collected so far, Parks said. The goal is to collect 1,400 from the post's 3,500 Soldiers and civilian employees by June 16.

"We're doing activities that let us reach individuals that others have not been able to reach," Parks said. "We want to have a true sample representation of the Fort Jackson community."