Community Guide UseThe Central Michigan District Health Department (CMDHD) used
The Guide to Community Preventive Services (The Community Guide) to complete and approve the 2012 Together We Can Community Health Assessment and Health Improvement Plan, their strategic plan, to improve health in their community. Click the PDF icon to download the full text of this Community Guide success story, "Together We Can! Create a Healthier Community."
Background
After an assessment showed the counties in CMDHD's district to be among the unhealthiest in Michigan, CMDHD began the Together We Can! initiative to improve the overall health of the 196,000 people within the district. As a first step in addressing their community health issues, CMDHD formed the Together We Can Health Improvement Council (Council) consisting of multi-jurisdictional and multi-sector stakeholders. CMDHD and the Council established a unifying mission statement and identified the following eight health priority areas:
- Access to Health Services
- Nutrition/Weight Status/Physical Activity
- Maternal/Infant Health
- Reproductive/Sexual Health
- Abusive/Violent/Controlling Behavior
- Substance Abuse
- Environmental Health
- Transportation
Implementation
CMDHD had to select interventions that effectively addressed each health priority area, and The Community Guide was an invaluable tool in their process. For each health priority area, CMDHD identified measureable objectives and researched and selected interventions for implementation. They used The Community Guide to identify evidence-based initiatives to apply in their region.
Outcomes
CMDHD and the Council successfully completed and approved the 2012 Together We Can Community Health Assessment and Health Improvement Plan, their strategic plan. Under their new strategic plan, CMDHD developed a worksite wellness program for their 120 employees that included weight management education and built-in workday time for physical activity.
Model Capacity
Health improvement planning can be very challenging, and creating a concise action plan is a critical step in any community health improvement activity. CMDHD's use of The Community Guide to select appropriate health interventions can be used as a model by other organizations undertaking community health improvement initiatives.
Resulting Changes in Practice
In March 2012, the Central Michigan District Board of Health passed a board policy, which stated it will “use The Guide to Community Preventive Services as a resource to help choose evidence-based programs, practices, and policies to better improve health and prevent disease, injury and disability in our communities. This resource will enable the board to better advise, support advocacy, and justify decisions when developing evidence-based policies for the Central Michigan District Health Department. This guide should help our public health team as we strive to maximize the benefit of our core functions of assessment, assurance and policy development.”
Partnerships and Collaborations
The Council has representation from 38 individuals and organizations, who were able to get a common source of reference in The Community Guide. The collaborative nature of this initiative has helped to maintain and sustain efforts.
Quality Improvement Methods
CMDHD is a quality improvement (QI) advocate and leader in Michigan. The community health assessment and improvement plan development is considered by health department leadership and staff as a QI initiative and incorporates the elements of Plan-Do-Study-Act. The assessment process was the “Plan” where CMDHD assembled their baseline data. The community health improvement plan outlines the “Do” and the plan does contain evidence-based strategies that were found in The Community Guide. Since the health improvement plan was just launched in April 2012, CMDHD is just beginning to “Do”, but as part of their on-going process, they will need to “Study” the effectiveness of the strategies employed and then “Act” to revise and modify the plan as necessary.
View all of The Community Guide
success stories from the 2012
"!'m Your Community Guide!" Contest.