NACCHO Honors 39 Local Health Departments for Exemplary and Innovative Programs
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Contact Claire S. Gould NACCHO Honors 39 Local Health Departments for Exemplary and Innovative Programs Washington, DC (July 13, 2012)—
As part of its 2012 annual conference in Los Angeles, CA, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) last night honored 39 local health departments across the country for implementing programs that demonstrate exemplary and replicable outcomes in response to an identified public health need. Each project receiving a Model Practice award was reviewed by a committee of peers (other local health department professionals) and selected from a group of 166 applications (up by more than a quarter from last year). “Local health departments nationwide are great sources of innovative ideas and programs,” said NACCHO Executive Director Robert M. Pestronk. “With this award, NACCHO recognizes exceptional work and shares it broadly. The beauty of these programs is that they can be replicated or adapted by other local health departments.” Among this year’s Model Practice award winners were the following programs: The Contra Costa Health Services’ Family, Maternal and Child Health Programs in Martinez, CA, developed Building Economic Security Today (BEST), an asset-development pilot project, for the local WIC program. BEST uses the Life Course framework, a complex interplay of biological, behavioral, psychological, environmental, and social protective and risk factors (including wealth and financial stability) that contribute to health outcomes across the span of a person’s life and future generations. BEST responds to the county’s steadily rising rates of pre-term and low birth weight, and the substantial inequities in birth outcomes between racial/ethnic groups. Community partners engaged in BEST offer expertise related to asset-development. WIC clients deepen their understanding of the connection between health and wealth, and adopt strategies to improve their financial behaviors. The Clark County Public Health Department in Vancouver, WA, uses the Emergency Community Notification System (ECNS), an automated system with polling capability and real time data available via secure web-based portal to select and reach specific populations to conduct infectious disease outbreak investigations. Through this system, the agency is able to reach populations potentially exposed to communicable diseases and other hazards by automated phone within minutes (or the whole county in 30 minutes, if necessary). Because ECNS automatically and immediately populates an electronic database for data analysis in real time, the department is able to respond to an emerging outbreak rapidly and efficiently and significantly decrease the number of individual interviews of exposed or ill people. The Northeast Texas Public Health District, in Tyler, TX, developed the FIT City Challenge, a campaign to fight obesity and sedentary lifestyles. Joining forces with local media and community partners including hospitals, health clubs, local businesses, and others, the health department-led coalition works to educate the public through success stories of real community members, and to provide activities such as Fit City Day events, and several fitness walk events to fight the obesity epidemic of Tyler and northeast Texas. In support of the program, the Tyler Morning Telegraph added a new section called Health and Wellness, and local broadcaster, CBS 19TV, started a series called Fit City Success. Central Florida’s Lake County Health Department, with the support of the Lake County School District, took on tooth decay, a common childhood disease, with Toothy 2, a Mobile Dental Unit that brings preventative dental care and oral health education directly to children while at school. With this program, second grade students aged 7-8 years old who are low-income, eligible for Medicaid, uninsured, or without access to regular dental care receive a visual exam, teeth cleaning, brushing and flossing instruction, fluoride varnish and sealants on their permanent first molars. The sealants are checked and reapplied if needed to third graders who were seen the previous year as second graders. Since 2003, NACCHO’s Model Practice program has honored local initiatives. All model practices are catalogued in an online, searchable database in areas ranging from immunization and maternal and child health to infectious diseases and emergency preparedness. The NACCHO Model Practice database allows users to benefit from colleagues'' experiences, to learn what works, and to ensure that resources are used wisely on effective programs that have been implemented with good results. It also enables NACCHO to share information with key stakeholders and media about the good work being done by local health departments across the country. Read more about these award-winning programs here. This year, NACCHO honored the following:
About the National Association of County and City Health Officials ### |