PHACS, Public Health in Arkansas Community Search, is an interactive website where anyone can find out public health facts in Arkansas. There are over 100 health indicators available under many different health topics. To find out more information about PHACS, visit our website at For the latest news and updates, visit

Table of Contents

Selecting a County to Begin Query ……………………………………………..…. Page 1

Selecting a Health Indicator for the County …………………………………… Page 2

View Health Indicator Query Results for the County …………………….. Page 4

Options Menu ………………………………………………………………………………. Page 8

View County Maps ………………………………………………………………………… Page 11

View County Profile Reports………………………………………………………….. Page 12

View Other County Level Reports …………………………………………………..Page 13

Other Resources ……………………………………………………………………………. Page 14

Help ………………………………………………………………………………………………. Page 14

Select a County from Home Page. Start any search by selecting a county on the map or by selecting a county from the drop down box on the right side of the screen.Place thecursor over the map to see the county names. Once you click on a county on the map or choose a county from the drop down list, the next screen should be a query screen called Select Indicator to Viewthe (county that was selected).This page can always be accessed again by going back to the home page.

The next step to selecting a health indicator for a county is to select the category in which the indicator is located. Categories of health topics include:

  • Social Environment:includes demographics such as population, income, and education
  • Access to Health Care:includes factors such as number of doctors, dentists, and hospitals within each county
  • Behavior Risks:includes risk factor information such as number of smokers, binge drinking, and teen drug use
  • Preventive Care and Screenings:includes information about preventive care such as number of women receiving pap tests and mammograms
  • Health Outcomes and Mortality: includes information about number of individuals with diabetes, heart disease,and mortality rates

Choose only one category from the drop down list in Step 1. Once a category is chosen, a description of the category will pop up on the right side of the screen in a yellow box.

To View more information about the category, click on the See More Info link inside the paragraph. This should show more information about the selected category.

In Step 2, choose an indicator from the list. The indicators are related to the category chosen in step 1.

The description for the indicator can be viewed in the same way as the category description. By choosing an indicator, the description will appear on the right side of the screen. Click on See More Info to view more information about the health indicator.

The last step on this page is to click on the submit option to view information on the selected indicator.

The Health Indicator Results page displays the query results from the health indicator that was chosen in the previous page and the county that was selected on the home page. The indicator results page displays the results from the query in a table format. Below the table are the description of the indicator, how to cite the source of the data, and more information about the quintile ranking. On the right side of the screen, an options menu is available to distribute the results.

In the data results table, the name of the indicator should appear at the top along with the text that says “(View County Map)”. By clicking on the name of the indicator you will see a county map of Arkansas showing how the indicator is represented across the state. In the below example, the counties with the most teen drug use are represented by the darker color. A legend at the side of the map shows the colors associated with each range.

The county map is accessible from different areas of the PHACS website: From the indicator query results, the Select County Maps link, profile results, and through the health indicator definitions.

Each county map contains the description of the indicator, the citation for the source of the information, a table of the values for each county for the indicator, and more information about the quintile ranking. The county table can be exported to Excel for further data analysis.

Access the county profile report by clicking on any county in the state map. The county profile report will open for the selected county. The report will automatically be sent to the page that displays the same indicator from the map it was selected from. The county profile reports are accessible from different areas of the PHACS website: By going to County Profile Reports link on the home page, or by clicking on any county on the County Map for any health indicator.

Figure 2: County Table

Use the top navigation (also called breadcrumbs) to navigate back to the indicator data results. Breadcrumbs are present on most of the pages on the PHACS website to help navigate through the website easily.

The Health Indicator Query Table Results also shows the following information:

County: The County selected in the query.

Source of Information: The data source where the information was retrieved.

Year(s) Related to Data: The year(s) associated with the data.

Measure: A measure of how the indicator is represented (e.g., percent, count).

Value for the County: The value for the selected county and health indicator.

*Ranking Compared to other Counties:

This is a result of quintile ranking for all 75 counties in Arkansas. The rankings are assigned by placing the counties into five equal groups by the occurrence of the health indicator. If a county value exist is two adjacent groups, then the county is moved to the quintile group with the most favorable rating.
Quintile 1 - Highest, represents the counties with the most favorable health ranking (in demographics, this represents highest occurrence of the demographic)
Quintile 2 - Higher, represents the counties with the second highest favorable health ranking (in demographics, this represents counties between the highest and mid-range occurrence of the demographic)
Quintile 3 - Middle, represents the counties in the mid-range favorable ranking (in demographics, this represents counties within the middle range occurrence of the demographic)
Quintile 4 - Lower, represents the counties with a lower favorable health ranking( in demographics, this represents counties between mid-range and lowest occurrence of the demographic)
Quintile 5 - Lowest, represents the counties with the least favorable health ranking (in demographics, this represents counties with the lowest occurrence of the demographic )

State of Arkansas Value:The value for the entire state of Arkansas and health indicator.

The options menu is present on any page that shows results from a query. This can be accessed on the health indicator query results page, county map pages, and category profile results pages.

Printer Friendly: Print out a printer friendly version of the query results

Export to Excel: This option will export the table results to an Excel Spreadsheet. Note: If you are using Microsoft Excel 2007 or greater, you may receive the following error message. Choose yes to open the file.

Figure 5: Excel Warning Message from Excel 2007

Figure 6: Excel Spreadsheet with Query Results

Note: Maps are not exported to MS Excel

Email Results: This option will email the table results. To send results through email, enter your name, email address, the recipient’s name, and the recipient’s email address. All of the fields are required except for your name. Click on the submit button to send the email.

County Profile Report: This option opens the County Profile Report. All of the county profile reports are available in PDF format only. To open these reports, Adobe Reader must already be installed.

Figure 8: County Profile Report

Category Profile Report: This option opens another page that displays all the indicators in the selected category for the selected county. The category profile report is only available through the indicator query results page. By clicking on the health indicator name, the county map for that indicator will be displayed.

Figure 9: Category Profile Report (Behavioral Risks Profile is shown in this example)

Figure 10: County Map for Number of Adult Smokers

To View County maps without going through choosing a county, click on Select County Maps on the Home Page or the left side navigation bar. Select a category and health indicator in the same manner as they would for selecting an indicator for a specific county (see page 2). Click on the submit button to view the county map for the selected indicator.

Figure 11: Select Indicator for Viewing County Map

Figure 12: County Map Results from Selecting Health Indicator to View Map.

Access County Profile Reports directly by going to the County Profile Reports Link on the Home Page. Select a county from the map or from the county drop down list (similar to the same method used on the home page, see page 2.)

Figure 13: Select County to view County Profile Report

Figure 14: County Profile Report

Future reports will be available on the Other County Level Reports Link. Check for new reports by visiting the Latest News and Updates link at the top right of the screen.

Check the Related Links to view more information about each of the data sources and view other resources on gathering county level data.

Check the Help section of the website to view frequently asked questions and health indicator definitions.

Health Indicator Definitions are available in the Help Section. Click on the Health Indicator name to view the county map.