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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Francell K. Haskins, MHA and Nobuko Mizoguchi, MPH, MPP. Office of the Director, Alameda County Public Health Department, 1000 Broadway, 5th Floor, Oakland, CA, CA 94607, 510.267.8099, fhaskins@co.alameda.ca.us
Alameda County Public Health Department (ACPHD) initiated organizational changes in 1993 to “put the public back into public health”. Activities included: modification of the organization’s mission statement; training health department staff on core principles; out-stationed teams of public health nurses (PHN) and outreach workers i.e., Community Health Teams (CHT) throughout our jurisdiction; expanded the role of CHTs to include working with residents to identify priorities for their community in adddition to performing population based services; and employed community epidemiologist to support the CHTs.
ACPHD was awarded a grant by the Partnership for the Public’s Health (PPH). The PPH’s goals are: strengthen the capacity of communities, enhance capacity of health departments, create sustainable partnerships between communities and public health departments, and develop state and local policies and infrastructure. ACPHD was paired with three community-based organizations (CBO). Our charge was to jointly develop strategic and implementation plans.
The plan developed with each partner is unique, addressing issues not traditionally considered public health. One plan focuses on environmental justice; another on skills building of multicultural and racially diverse parents; and formation of a community driven mini-grant process.
The presentation highlights challenges, successes and lessons learned in working with our community partners. The following questions will be addressed. What skills are needed by health department staff to do this work? What are their roles and responsibilities? Equal partners...how are decisions made? Can CBOs represent community residents’ priorities?
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Partnerships, Community-Based Public Health
Related Web page: www.partnershipph.org./about/vision.html
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.