Some Natrona County residents may find a survey in their mailboxes this week asking them if they think domestic violence is a major health issue or how likely they would be to attend a weight management class.

Hospital and health department officials implore people not to ignore it.

The five-page health care survey, which takes less than 10 minutes to complete, will be used by Casper health agencies to determine prevalent chronic diseases in the community and people's perceptions of the community's health, said Mary Lynne Shickich, chief planning officer for Wyoming Medical Center.

"This is really helping us in building a strong infrastructure," Shickich said.

The hospital received a grant from the Wyoming Department of Health's Rural and Frontier Health Division to complete the assessment. WMC partnered with Casper-Natrona County Health Department and Community Health Center of Central Wyoming for the project.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal put $250,000 in the rural health division's 2007 biennium budget to coordinate community health care assessments to provide communities with a snapshot of their health care delivery system.

The Casper hospital was awarded $44,550, in addition to the cost of contracting with the Rural Health Resource Center of Duluth, Minn. to analyze the surveys.

Six other hospitals across the state received similar grants.

Pam Evert, a planning specialist at the medical center, said 800 surveys will be sent to randomly selected people throughout the county this week.

The organizations will also conduct focus groups in early November with senior citizens, patients, Midwest residents and community leaders.

Randomized invitations have already been sent to people selected to share their ideas.

"We want people to be a part of the process to help develop the future of Natrona County health care," Evert said

The organizations also hope to learn about better ways to disseminate information about health services, said Jillian Riddle, community outreach education coordinator for county health.

"We want to know how we can work better together," Riddle said. "And make sure we aren't duplicating services."

People should respond to the survey, especially if they have received services they aren't happy with, she said, to help improve the system.

After the hospital receives analysis back from the center in Duluth, Minn., the three organizations plan to share the information with the community.

Contact health reporter Allison Rupp at (307) 266-0534 or allison.rupp@trib.com.