Community Health Planning and Statistics

Community Health Assessment

A Community Health Assessment is a collaborative process involving community partners to identify strengths, capacity, and opportunity to better address the many determinants of health. Improving the health of the community is critical to enhancing Washington County residents’ quality of life and supporting its future prosperity and well-being. The Washington County Community Health Assessment serves to inform the community decision making, the prioritization of health problems, and the development, implementation, and evaluation of community health improvement plans.

Florida Department of Health in Washington County Community Health Assessment

Community Health Improvement Plan

The Public Health Accreditation Board defines a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) as “a longterm, systematic effort to address health problem on the basis of the results of assessment activities and the community health improvement process.” A CHIP can be used by health departments, as well as other governmental, education, or human service agencies to coordinate efforts and target resources that promote health.  A CHIP serves to address issues, roles, and common goals and objectives throughout the community. The plan can be used to guide action and monitor and measure progress toward achievement of goals and objectives. The plan, along with a community health needs assessment, can be utilized as justification for support of certain public health initiatives, as part of funding proposals, as well as attracting other resources toward building programs that improve the overall quality of life of the community.

Coming Soon 2024

Strategic planning is a management tool used to determine where an organization is going over the next several years, how it's going to get there, and how it will determine its success. It is an organization’s process of defining its direction and making decisions on allocating its resources, including its capital and people. Strategic planning is a step by step process with definite objectives and end products that can be implemented and evaluated. Very simply, it is a process by which we look into the future, paint a picture of that future based on current trends, and develop a plan to meet the challenges and opportunities that will affect us. Our Strategic Plan starts with a focus on our organization's mission, vision, and values. It then determines goals that are critical to achieve the mission. Finally, it incorporates objectives to achieve the goals that articulate measurable results with timeframes for programs to accomplish. In order to develop and update our plan, we have to keep answering three key questions:

• "What do we do?"

• "For whom do we do it?"

• "How do we excel?"

This Strategic Plan charts a definite course based on strong indicators of what the public health environment will be like in the next three years. Our indicators include census demographic statistics, economic indicators, government policies, health status indicators, and technological advances. Some of the trends identified by these indicators are potential opportunities, some potential threats, and some are both. Examining the possibilities and formulating strategies to meet the challenges help our organization take full advantage of opportunities and minimize threats. In short, we take control of the future. We can use our energies and resources more effectively and conduct our business more successfully, despite changes in the environment.

Coming Soon 2024