April
3-9, 2017, is National Public Health Week -- a time to highlight efforts across
the nation to improve the health and wellbeing of residents. This year in El
Dorado County, the Public Health Division of the El Dorado County Health and
Human Services Agency is working with agency partners and local community
members to develop a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). The CHIP, which
is expected to be finalized in the next couple of months, is based on a
comprehensive Community Health Assessment (CHA) done in 2016 that included
input from community members and agency partners, and an analysis of local
data. The CHIP also ties into the County’s “Healthy Communities” strategic
plan.
The El Dorado County CHIP will focus
on the four following areas:
- Active Living
- Healthy Eating
- Behavioral Health
- Access to Care
According to El Dorado County Health Officer, Nancy
Williams, a core function of Public Health is to work with organizations and
individuals to collect and analyze health related data, and then to collaborate
to address identified community needs. “The data we collect helps us make the
best decisions about how to improve the community’s health status,” said
Williams. “The Community Health Assessment completed last year helped us
identify the top four issues that will be the focus of the CHIP over the next
five years. Through this plan, we are working with our community partners to
prioritize and implement specific activities to tackle the top issues.”
Williams says that leads have been assigned to each
of the four focus areas of the CHIP and teams of people have begun meeting. The
Active Living team plans to work towards creating safe, healthy, sustainable
communities and environments that promote active lifestyles for community
members. The Healthy Eating team will focus on increasing access to healthy,
affordable food, and increasing environments that promote healthy food choices.
The Behavioral Health team plans to focus on a collaborative outreach,
prevention and policy effort with partner agencies that will help clients who have
been victims of trauma, reduce tobacco use and build resiliency in local
communities. The Access to Care team hopes to educate residents and others
about ways to acquire insurance and reduce barriers to services that are
available but difficult to access through current systems.
“This is an exciting project that we feel could make
a great impact in the community,” said Williams. “Partners include local health
care providers, hospitals and non-profit organizations, schools, law
enforcement agencies, city staff and others. We are very grateful for these
partnerships.”
For more information about the CHA and CHIP, please
visit www.welldorado.org. For specific
questions, or for those interested in possibly joining one of the CHIP focus
area teams, please contact Olivia Byron-Cooper, Public Health Program Manager,
at (530) 621-6374.
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