Cook County Public Health and Human Services (PHHS) recently drafted its Community Health Assessment (CHA) and a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). Under state statute, local public health departments are responsible to create these tools every five years as a blueprint to both understand the health challenges occurring locally and create a plan for addressing these challenges in collaboration with local partners.
County Connections is a column on timely topics and service information from your Cook County government. Cook County—Supporting Community Through Quality Public Service.
Beginning in 2017, PHHS engaged 39 Cook County community members throughout a series of eight community meetings. Partners represented a diverse range of perspectives, including staff from the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, North Shore Health, Grand Portage Human Services, ISD 166, elected officials, the City of Grand Marais, and a variety of local nonprofits.
Through these meetings, participants looked at health data for Cook County, prioritized areas in need of attention, thought about subgroups of the population that had poorer than average health outcomes, created shared goals for the future, and brainstormed strategies to improve health under each goal.
Together we decided to prioritize a series of six goals to work toward in the coming years:
1) All community members have safe and stable housing.
2) Community members of all ages and abilities can access specialty services.
3) Elders experience support to age in our community.
4) Families with young children experience community support.
5) People can access behavioral health services when they need them.
6) People who have experienced substance abuse have support to move toward recovery.
Currently, PHHS is working with community partners to move from the assessment to the improvement planning stage, linking each of these goals to specific objectives, strategies, and activities that will guide our collective work over the coming years.
The Community Health Assessment Improvement Plan is a living document, and the work proposed is work that will happen throughout partner agencies and the community at large. PHHS acts as a facilitator and organizer through this process, fostering continued collaboration among partner agencies, and focusing our collective efforts to create a healthier, more vibrant community.
PHHS will reconvene its partners every six months to re-examine our plans; to discuss what is working and what isn’t; and to bring up any emergent issues that impact the health, safety and well-being of the community.
A draft of the Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan can be found on the PHHS website at co.cook.mn.us/index.php/public-health-documents. Please send any feedback on the draft plan to Grace Grinager, Public Health Coordinator at grace.grinager@co.cook.mn.us. PHHS plans to host community presentations on the Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan in the fall of 2019, making printed copies available to the public at that time.
Grace is also available to tailor presentations on this report or any of the goals to specific groups or organizations within the county who are interested in a more in-depth look at particular aspects of the Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan.
Learn more about the PHHS department at the August 20 PHHS board meeting at 8:30 a.m. in the Cook County Commissioners Room. Follow us on Facebook @ CookCountyPHHS.
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