To commemorate Health Education Week, which runs from October 19 to October 23, and its theme of building successful partnerships to more effectively implement sustainable changes in communities, the team from the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness Partnerships to Improve Community Health (PICH) Program would like to share recent examples of the way it is working with community groups to break down silos, establish new relationships, connect people in support of common goals and collaborate.
The Fulton County PICH Program supports initiatives and
activities to reduce chronic disease, improve access to healthy nutrition and
physical activity, promote tobacco cessation and smoke-free environments, and
create walkable and livable communities. But it can’t do it alone. The PICH
Program is working in partnership with a coalition of government, school,
healthcare, corporate, faith-based and non-profit organizations to address
these four areas.
One recent illustration of this collaboration in action was
the September 25 presentation on designing healthy communities to encourage
physical activity. The event was sponsored by the Fulton County PICH Program,
produced in partnership with the Fulton County Healthy Heart Coalition, Fulton Asthma
Improvement & Reduction Coalition, the Diabetes
Community Action Coalition of Fulton County, the Smoke
Free Coalition, the Fulton Interfaith Coalition and Safe Kids, and made possible by funding
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mark Fenton, a recognized authority on community planning
and public health, led the workshop for an audience of 32 health policymakers,
public agency officials and community coalition partners. The workshop
consisted of lively, interactive discussions about effective strategies for
planning and implementing easy-to-launch initiatives to create walkable,
bikeable and livable communities throughout the County. Fenton spent a lot of
time training the participants to stop thinking and working in silos and
instead to create inclusive messages and tactics. Throughout the half-day
session, the atmosphere was electric as the discussion generated new ideas from
participants who reimagined County neighborhoods as walkable, bikeable and
livable communities.
The coalition partners, policymakers and agency leaders have
taken the ideas back to their respective organizations to develop concrete
ideas for transforming communities throughout Fulton County into areas where
cars, bikes, pedestrians and transit all safely share the road and residents
have easy, walkable access to healthier food options and pleasant outdoor
spaces for physical activity.
Three days later, on September 28, some 40 representatives
of a diverse group of community organizations attended a PICH-sponsored daylong
training presented by the Directors of Health Promotion and Education (DHPE) in
developing policies, strategies and interventions to lower the incidence of
chronic health problems and to promote physical activity and healthy eating for
children, teens, adults, seniors and families in their communities. The public
health professionals, policymakers, educators, neighborhood activists and
faith-based organization leaders learned how to define social and health
problems and to identify like-minded individuals and stakeholder groups who could
join them in analyzing problems, developing policy solutions and influencing
change.
There’s much work to do in order to make it all a reality,
but participants in these events now realize that collaboration will be the
key. Said one participant: “We can no long afford to watch other areas of
Georgia walk more, eat healthier, and live better. In real-time, in our own
communities, we truly want to become a safer, walkable, bike-friendly,
healthier eating and overall healthier place to live, work and play. Together,
we can do it, and together we will.”
Watch a video about both events here.
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