Agenda - 01-15-2008-4l - Laserfiche WebLink

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Healthy Carolinians Partnership Support Initiative -Applicant Information Sheet (continued) Healthy Carolinians Partnership Support Initiative Questions Question 1: Healthy Carolinians of Orange County (HCOC) was started in 1995 and has grown to be a strong, well-respected coalition in the community, with over 50 partner agencies and well over 80 members and collaborators. The mission of HCOC is to advocate, guide, and assist Orange County in planning and implementing health care strategies to promote healthy lifestyles, improve health status, and prevent premature deaths and injury for all residents. The structure includes a governing Council, a Healthy Carolinians Coordinator, and sub-committees. The governing Council oversees the work of HCOC by providing expertise, oversight, and direction to the committees. The full-time coordinator helps to facilitate all the work of the partnership including organization of meetings, member recruitment and sustainability, assisting committees with planning, implementing and evaluating activities, media facilitation and public education about Healthy Carolinians (HC). The committees, made up of professionals from across the county, work on specific priority areas for the County and help carry out partnership activities. As of July 1, 2006, the Orange County Government agreed to support the full cost of salary and benefits for the HC Coordinator. The County also provides limited funds for operational expenses of HC. Project activities are supported through grants, support from partner agencies, and in-kind support. Currently there are three committees working on specific project area. Below is a list of committees, along with their focus and major accomplishments to date. • Advocate for Adolescents: teen mental health. o Conducted an assessment to gather information on the attitudes, perceptions, and needs of adolescents related to mental health. o Developed and distributed a Teen Therapist Listing to help people identify mental health services available in the community o Sponsored Nothing to Hide: Mental Illness in the Family, a 2-month photo exhibit to create community dialogue and raise awareness about mental illness o Advocates for Children: prevention of child abuse/domestic violence. o Heid over SOBrown-Bag-Lunches and 1/2 day trainings for local professionals to increase their awareness about the prevalence and effects of domestic violence and child abuse and improve their skills to respond to these issues. o Heid the Real Men Rock event to highlight issues of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Due to its success, the event will be held again this year. • Healthy Choices: health promotion and disease prevention amon ag dults• o Established a worksite wellness program for the 800+ Orange County employees o Offered worksite wellness workshops to teach employees how to establish programs o Developed and distributed a Recreation Map highlighting the various recreation opportunities in the county In addition to the committee's projects, HCOC has engagedrn multiple initiatives, including the development of a marketing plan, support of Eat Smart Move More Churches a faith based health promotion initiative and participate on other coalition and local groups that support the mission of HCOC. At the current time, we are conducting a Community Health Assessment to determine any shifts in community perspective related to health issues and priority areas. Based on our findings, we will create new/reorganize current committees to work on the new priorities. Page 3 of 4