Consortium moves forward on health initiatives

A consortium working to improve the health of Hill County took its next step at a meeting Tuesday, forming groups to act on initiatives selected last fall.

After conducting needs assessments last year, in August the Hill County Health Consortium identified the 10 top health priorities then narrowed them down to the top three concerns: reducing alcohol abuse, reducing the number of teen pregnancies and increasing awareness of and providing more support for people with mental health problems.

Tuesday, the consortium members at the meeting signed up to work on task forces to actually develop and implement plans for the initiatives.

Facilitator Rod Kopp of Strategic Vision Consulting said three issues are key to succeeding: identifying achievable, measurable goals — one of the reasons the consortium narrowed its three-year Health Improvement Plan to three initiatives — communicating with the public, and involving youths and young adults.

Kopp said that is especially crucial in the teen pregnancy initiative, but involving the young will be key to success in all three initiatives. He added that using social media also will be a key in involving that group.

Another key is to look at what programs other areas — including similar Montana counties — are using and how they are working. Kopp added that other communities throughout the nation will be looking at Hill County’s plan and borrowing what works from it.

The task group creation was the next step in taking actions on the initiatives, which have time frames set for certain actions through the next few months, into the end of the year for the mental health initiative.

The task forces will each “own” their own initiatives, and set the actions and directions for implementing those initiatives, Kopp said. A key will be involving as much of the community — and identified “stakeholders” — as possible in the initiatives, making them truly community-driven, he said.

For the teen pregnancy initiative, the next step is to brainstorm to identify potential partners, then, in April and May to recruit more partners to the team and initiative.

The steps set for July through August include increasing resources and support for pregnant teens, conducting outreach to services through September, and then working to fill gaps in support and services identified.

A major effort through the fall will be to include teens in the planning strategy and to identify activities to keep teens involved.

The fourth action identified is to increase awareness of the issue and create educational opportunities, while the fifth is to increase access to reproductive health care and education.

The first actions identified for reducing alcohol abuse, are to brainstorm to find potential partners and reaching out to the community to recruit new members in April and May. The next step, scheduled to happen in July and August, is to create a team to further define resources, policies and procedures, and laws related to alcohol abuse.

The next step, in a timeframe to be determined, is to identify what already is in place, assess the programs’ reach, identify gaps and make recommendations on how to improve programs and foster successful programs.

Work already is under way on a major step in the mental health initiative: Finding funding to hire a mental health services coordinator.

Cindy Smith, CEO of Bullhook Community Health Center, said preparation is ongoing on writing a grant application to fund that position, with the application due in early April.

Hill County Public Health Director Danielle Golie said the groups should set their own meeting schedules, then report back during quarterly meetings of the consortium. The next full meeting will be in June, she said.