Interpreting selected visualized factors influencing wellness in Nacogdoches County, Texas extracted from the American Community Survey (ACS) for 2015-2018

Keywords: Wellness potential, spatial patterns, Nacogdoches, Texas, health care access
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 30

Abstract

The study provided a geographical and spatial overview of health care access for citizens in Nacogdoches County, Texas, a county in East Texas of some 65,000. The report examined the physical and cultural geography of Nacogdoches County in relation to an analysis of selected factors identified through field work as important in influencing the wellness potential of the population. Nacogdoches is the primary city in the county of 1,000 sq. miles and the focal point of health care. Data used to visualize selected factors were extracted from 2015 and 2018 datasets available from the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates. Extracted data utilized esri’s ArcMap 10.8.1 to produce maps of significant spatial distributions, issues and trends for interpretation. Patterns that emerged from the analysis of education, economic and health characteristics maps identified spatial disparities in current wellness potential for Nacogdoches County, Texas. Among the critical issues identified were access to health care, spatial concentrations of low income, educational achievement and ethnic percentage of residents in poverty influencing health care.