| |
 Clark
County
The Heart Healthy Community Program
Background & History
The Clark County experience with community nutrition assessment provides
an excellent example of nutrition assessment occurring as an integrated
part of a broad-based community program. The framework for the project
comes from Community
Choices 2010, a project staffed by the Chamber of Commerce with the
goal of promoting physical health and economic well being in Clark County.
The project enjoys a broad base of support and significant contributions
by local business and industry. The overall goal of the organization behind
the project is that building the health of the whole community is beneficial
to all who live and work in Clark County.
The Southwest Washington Health District used the APEX-PH
process to determine community needs, resources and interests. One result
of the APEX-PH assessment was that the group concluded that health was
everyone's business, and Community Choices 2010 was developed. One aspect
of Community Choices 2010 is the formation of working groups composed of
representatives from business, hospitals, health agencies and programs
and public health. These groups are:
-
Health and Safety
-
Economic Opportunity
-
Youth and Families
-
Access to Services
-
Positive Community Norms
-
Education
-
Environmental Health
Two additional areas to be addressed are:
-
Quality of Life
-
Community Engagement
One of the groups, the Health and Safety committee wrote a successful application
for a Federal Preventative Health and Health Services block grant. In-kind
support has come from numerous community partners, including the Southwest
Washington Health District. The project is community led, and the Health
and Safety committee is the community coalition with responsibilities for
project oversight. The Heart Health project serves as a fine example of
coalition building and has the following members:
-
Vancouver Parks and Recreation
-
YWCA
-
Southwest Washington Health District
-
Kaiser Permanente
-
SW Washington Medical Center
-
Hewlett Packard
-
SW Washington Dietetic Association
One initial goal of the committee was to conduct a county-specific assessment
of cardiovascular disease risk factors. Poor nutrition, tobacco use, and
physical activity were targeted risk factors. Objectives of the group were
those found in the Healthy
People 2000 document. The committee took a special interest in those
Healthy People 2000 objectives that cover the use of preventative service
provision by health professionals and those to increase patient education
and community health promotion programs.
|
back
to top
Methods