Fillmore County Public Health recently hosted the Healthy Bluff Country Summit on January 28 and 30 at the Fillmore County Office Building. Health Educator Brenda Pohlman and Director of Nursing for Public Health Jessica Erickson led the Summit. The purpose of the event was to discuss the current and future state of health in Fillmore County and provide information for the Community Health Improvement Plan by establishing health priorities, determining current assets, and obtaining valuable input from members and organization of the community. Approximately 26 people total participated in the summit from a variety of organizations and public sectors including Emergency Medical Services, Emergency Management/Enforcement, EDA, Workforce Development, Public Health, Root River Trail Towns, and several local businesses and schools, etc.
While the Community Health Improvement Plan may be a five-year plan, its process is circular and involves health assessments, prioritizing health issues, and developing and monitoring the plan. “We’re constantly working on it,” Pohlman said. In addition to gathering input for the plan at the summit, a health survey will be sent out to members of the community during the month of February.
During the Summit, participants were divided into small groups and given the opportunity to review a list of 20 different health topics that can or do affect residents of Fillmore County, The topics consisted of air quality, access to health services, alcohol use, chronic health conditions, natural, biological and man-made disasters, drugs, family planning, foodborne and waterborne diseases, injuries and violence, maternal, infant and child health, mental health, nutrition, physical activity, public health nuisances, sexually transmitted infections, tobacco use, traffic safety, vaccine preventable diseases, vectorborne disease via mosquitoes and ticks, and water quality. The participants analyzed and rated each health topic using criteria to determine its priority. The criteria was comprised of four different areas; the number of people potentially or actually affected by the topic, the impact and seriousness the topic has or would have on disability, premature death, or social/economic burdens, the feasibility of having strategies to deal with the topic, and the fairness of all people having an equal opportunity to be healthy regarding the topic.
Each group was asked to select what they felt were the top two priorities for Fillmore County from among the 20 health topics. Pohlman then revealed that the top five priorities based on results from the previous exercise were access to health care, air quality, mental health, nutrition, and water quality. She then asked the groups to combine their top two with the overall top five, select and prioritize five out of the list of seven, and determine existing resources, potential resources, and actionable items to address the topic.
Ten different potential hazards including tornadoes, floods, terrorism, extreme temperatures, etc. were also analyzed based on the likeliness that the hazard would occur in Fillmore County, the level of severity, and the impact on humans and property. Each participant ranked their top three hazards based on how they would affect Fillmore County Public Health, then ranked them again based on how they would stress the health care system in Fillmore County, and then based on the impact they would have on behavioral health services.
The information gathered from the summit participants will be used to create and implement the five-year Community Health Improvement Plan in Fillmore County. Similar events are usually held every three to five years.
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