During the planning of the University of Utah hospital now under construction in West Valley City, various groups and representatives of northwest Salt Lake County communities that will be served by the hospital worked to determine the health care needs of area residents.

After several years of meetings and information gathering, including surveys, the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah has released a series of fact sheets titled “Northwest Valley Datapoints” which give a health care profile of the people who live in the area. 

The fact sheets are “designed to inform local decision-makers and community partners,” according to the Institute. 

The latest fact sheet details some of the “access barriers” to health care in the northwest part of the county and some of the health challenges experienced by a significant sector of the population. 

For example, the Gardner Policy Institute report states, “Individuals experience better health outcomes and lower rates of preventable disease when they can afford and access health care.” However, “more than one in six residents (in northwest Salt Lake County) report cost as a barrier to care, and 17.3% remain uninsured—nearly twice the county (9.0%) and state (8.0%) rates. Young adults, low-income households and racial and ethnic minority residents face the greatest challenges to accessing care.”

West Valley City saw 17.9% of its residents and children without health insurance during the period of 2019 to 2023. Only the Glendale and Rose Park communities of western Salt Lake City had higher rates in the northwest county. 

Obesity, which can be a contributing factor to a number of health ailments, affects a higher level of residents in West Valley City than the state as a whole. The report shows that 41.9% of people in the city from 2021 to 2023 were significantly overweight compared to 31.6% across Utah. West Valley City ranks third in obesity among northwest county communities, exceeded only by Kearns and Magna. 

West Valley City fared better in the share of adults getting annual preventive medical exams at 69.5%, placing it third in the area. Kearns and Taylorsville were better. 

Life expectancy among West Valley City residents trailed that of Utah and the entirety of Salt Lake County. City residents lived an average of 77.2 years, about two fewer years than the state and county. At the other extreme, the life span of people in Glendale and Kearns was about two years shorter than West Valley City. 

West Valley City, Glendale and Rose Park residents also reported the lowest levels of social and emotional support compared to the county and state at large.

These and other statistics included in the latest Gardner Policy Institute fact sheet as well as other information will help shape health care strategies and services for northwest Salt Lake County leading up to and after the opening of the University of Utah medical campus in 2028. 

The new hospital will fill a dearth of comprehensive medical facilities in the northwest corner of the Salt Lake Valley. Of the 12 hospitals operating in Salt Lake County, Holy Cross Hospital West Valley is the only full-service medical center on the far west side of the county.