Orange County NC Website
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- Substance Abuse and Mental Health > Community Health Assessment + Evidence Base <br /> - Childhood and Family Obesity <br /> Access to Care <br /> • Catalyze and facilitate health access partnerships <br /> • Advocate for policies to improve access to care <br /> • Foster a culture of innovation <br /> • Communicate about effective interventions and advocate for their funding <br /> Evidence-Based Interventions (chart illustration) <br /> Health Literacy <br /> • OCHD Health Literacy policy passed <br /> • Healthy Carolinians planning community trainings <br /> • Toolkit implementation <br /> Innovation (bar graph illustration) <br /> Tony Whitaker said Orange County's Health Department is recognized as a leader in <br /> North Carolina in public health because of its policies, systems, and methods of <br /> communicating. <br /> He defined health literacy as a person's ability or lack of ability to obtain, process, and <br /> understand health information in order to make good health decisions. He said this includes <br /> literacy, reading skills, and cultural competencies. He said health literacy is a better predictor <br /> of health outcomes than age, race or socio economic status. <br /> Referring to the bar graph slide titled Innovation, Tony Whitaker said the public health <br /> arena is changing and the department is trying to change with it. He noted that the innovations <br /> grant program is part of the BOH budget, and said this has yielded tangible results. <br /> Susan Elmore said she is the veterinarian liaison to the Board of Health. She <br /> presented the following PowerPoint slides: <br /> Communication <br /> - Using communications to advocate for health needs and effective interventions <br /> Childhood & Family Obesity <br /> • Catalyze and facilitate obesity prevention partnerships <br /> • Identify evidence-based interventions to implement county-wide <br /> • Advocate for policies to reduce obesity through environmental and regulatory changes <br /> Ongoing Projects <br /> - Lactation Rooms <br /> -After School Physical Activity <br /> - NAPSACC (Nutrition and Physical Activity Self Assessment for Child Care) / Let's Move <br /> Susan Elmore said the BOH has worked with the Sportsplex on a pilot program to <br /> improve food policies at child centered facilities. She said this collaboration led to a plan for <br /> improvements, removal of fried food from lunches, and by the end of this month the fryer will <br /> be removed and replaced with a convection oven. <br />