This dbt project analyzes the intersection of healthcare accessibility and public transit coverage in Mecklenburg County. The goal is to identify healthcare deserts—areas with limited access to medical services—and evaluate how public transit (or the lack thereof) affects healthcare accessibility.
By leveraging dbt, this project aims to transform raw datasets into actionable insights that can inform policymakers, transit agencies, and healthcare planners about disparities in access.
Current project scope is limited to:
- Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
- Primary care access
- Populations with public insurance
- Population demographics only include age ranges
- Healthcare providers who are eligible to bill Medicaid/Medicare
- Public transit routes
but potential to add:
- Public transit ridership numbers and demographics
- Demographics beyond age
- Additional healthcare needs, such as Mental Health and Dental
This project is being developed iteratively. While the foundational dbt models are in place, additional transformations, analyses, and refinements are ongoing. You can track the development roadmap via the GitHub Issues and README updates.
Current focus areas include:
- Finalizing research questions to prioritize modeling efforts.
- Enhancing data sources to better quantify NSC.
| Milestone | Status |
|---|---|
| Source dataset discovery and storage | ✅ Completed |
| dbt and Duckdb init | ✅ Completed |
| Load raw datasets into staged layer | ✅ Completed |
| Comprehensive staging layer documentation | ✅ Completed |
| Develop analytical models | 🔄 In Progress |
| Test and validate model layer | ⏳ Upcoming |
| Prepare visualization | ⏳ Upcoming |
- Amazon S3
- Raw dataset storage
- DuckDB
- S3 connector
- RDBMS
- dbt
- Data transformation
- Documentation
Key dbt features implemented:
✅ Database connection via DuckDB
✅ Staging models for raw data processing
✅ Macros for reusable SQL logic
✅ Testing through dbt built-in features and packages
✅ Documentation through dbt
- Processed Datasets: Available in a Tableau-ready format.
- Interactive Maps: Visualizing healthcare deserts and transit coverage.
- Full dbt Documentation: Generated from dbt models, including lineage graphs and data dictionaries, with supplemental information for a holistic data governance.
For project updates and insights star the repo, follow my LinkedIn, or just keep refreshing this README like it’s your Instagram feed seconds after TikTok "left" the US.
This project isn’t open for external contributions yet, but feel free to fork the repo for your own use. If you adapt it to another location, I’d love to hear about it!