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Health Director’s Report <br />August 23, 2017 <br /> <br />• Community Health Grant Summary <br />OCHD was awarded $122,065 for a Community Health Grant from the Office of Rural Health for <br />the time period of September 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, with potential for additional funding for <br />a second year, FY18-19. The goal of this funding is to increase access to primary and preventive <br />care as well as self-management support services for vulnerable patient populations living with <br />chronic disease in Orange County. The target population will be uninsured, Medicaid, and <br />Medicare patients who are obese, and/or living with pre-diabetes/diabetes, abnormal lipids <br />and/or hypertension. OCHD will use part of this funding to supplement staffing and operational <br />costs for Medical Nutrition Therapy and Diabetes Self-Management Education services as well <br />as to create a voucher program covering the costs of the minimum fee for nutrition services. <br />These vouchers will reduce barriers to care with the goal of improving health outcomes. We <br />plan to hire a community health worker who will establish relationships with patients in <br />identified zip codes of Orange County and offer them support to better manage their disease as <br />well as strengthen our community partnerships. UNC Family Medicine will be a partner on this <br />grant with the goal of increasing the number of Chronic Disease Management classes (Stanford <br />Curriculum) as part of the partnership. <br /> <br />• Minority Diabetes Prevention Program Funds <br />We were awarded $10,125 as part of a Nine-County Regional Collaborative (Alamance County <br />Health Department is the lead agency) through the NC Department of Public Health to offer the <br />CDC minority diabetes prevention program. This is a year-long program to help people who <br />have prediabetes or who are at high risk for type 2 diabetes make realistic and achievable <br />lifestyle changes that can cut their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by half. This program will <br />start August 25th and will have 16 weekly sessions with incentives to aid in behavior change. <br />After the 16 weeks, there will be follow-up sessions to help participants continue the positive <br />lifestyle changes learned during the program. <br /> <br />• Behavioral Health Consultant <br />The BOCC allocated funds for a behavioral health consultant to move forward with assessing the <br />existing system and making recommendations to bridge gaps identified in the needs assessment <br />performed last fall. We are in the process of having community partners such as UNC <br />Healthcare, UNC Department of Pediatrics, Cardinal Innovations, and the school systems review <br />the RFP and hope to have it issued at the end of August with a goal of awarding a contract in <br />mid-November. <br /> <br />• Innovation Grants Update <br />Eight ideas were submitted to the Health Director for Innovation Grant funding in June. Five of <br />the ideas were selected to go through the full application process by the Health Director and <br />Leadership Team. In July, the Division Directors reviewed the applications and determined two <br />could be funded immediately and one needed more information. The “Be the 1 to” grant will <br />give the health department an opportunity to start an important public health intervention.