Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 (Agenda)
Item 34
>> 34, receive report from Austin-Travis County health and human services department on community health assessment and community health improvement a grant and take appropriate action.
I think barbara asked me to call up that item.
>> sherri fleming, health and human services and veterans services.
I have with me today shannon jones, deputy director of the Travis County health department and he is here to describe a very exciting process that the city of Austin will be embarking upon with many community partners and I think their interest in our continuing to be a significant partner.
so with that I'll turn it over to shannon jones.
>> mr. Jones, welcome.
>> thank you very much.
I appreciate the opportunity to come and talk very briefly.
my presentation will walk you through why we're doing this.
we will be working closely with dividing the county up --
>> if you back up just a little bit, they will give you more volume if they need to.
>> work within the municipalitys, unincorporated areas and municipalities.
we will be really the first county in the state of Texas to really undertake this.
blank.
>> [one moment, please, for change in captioners]
>> enhances health and human services continuous quality improvement process and increase hhs awareness in the community and fields of public health.
why is accreditation so important, significant -- where cdc and national funding agencies are going.
so they are interested in what those ideal agencies look like.
it demonstrates accountability and leadership in your local health department and state of Texas, there are very few efforts -- efforts looking at that at a local health department and we're one of the leaders in doing that.
at the national and the state level.
it improves efficiency and serves residents more effectively.
it enhances collaboration and bridges gaps.
streamlines grant processes.
as we look to future grants from cdc, and others, the act accredited department will be more likely to get.
it helps achieve better outcomes, something we are very interested in.
the public health accreditation will be overseen by the national public health accreditation board.
they looked at the standards that the public health department should have.
to apply for a number public health accreditation, which we will do for both the city and county, we must have three major things, one is an agency strategic plan that we're working on, two, a community health status report, something I'm about to talk with you about and three a community health improvement plan, something we will elaborate on in a few moments as well.
so those are components for accreditation that we need to have in place before we apply.
now the cha chip, it's not cha, cha, it stands for community health assessment and community health improvement plan.
as I indicated our department was one of 12 selected out of 127 nationwide to participate in this effort.
we are quite proud of that.
along with our beta test makes us the only one in Texas demonstrated local health department to have national recognition for those efforts.
the effort will run from July 2011 to July 2012.
we receive $35,000 in funding to help us undertake this.
but by no means do we indicate that $35,000 will help us accomplish this.
this is basically seed money to help us undertake and look at that.
it must address the social determinants of health and extra disparities.
we have talked several times in the court about disparities in the county.
this is a way to identify where they are and make efforts to improve those.
Austin Travis County will apply for accreditation in January 2013 and/or December 2014 depending on where we are in the process.
quickly what are cha chips.
community health assessment basically helps us inform the community decision making processes regarding health.
it prioritizes health problems. And assists in development and implementation of community health improvement plans.
so as we look for our county and we look at this assessment that we have identified, how do we begin to get a handle on those and in a difference in those areas where we've identified problems. Community health improvement plan is basically that, based upon the cha or the community health assessment.
what does it say, what are the problems, what does it address, how do you begin to do those as a community, not just as a department or multiple departments but as partners in the community.
it's action oriented.
what are we going to do as opposed to what do we say about what we're diagnose to do.
it addresses issues and includes strategies and measures so that we can identify that we actually made a difference in our community.
it further engages community members on health issues.
our plan is to go out into each of the expects of the county and -- precincts of the county, talk about what are the health issues in these particular precincts and what are we going to do to address those in those precincts.
collaborate with partners and meet new partners.
so we're going to bring together not only health agencies, but also we're going to bring together other non-traditional agencies in helping us address the problems to identify.
it helps to understand health disparities in the community.
we're talking about what exists in Jonestown may be different than what exists in webberville, how do we address those and get a handle on addressing those in a partnership arrangement.
to enable leaders to express priorities based on limited needs.
our goal is to be able to begin to do that in this assessment.
it satisfies as a grants requirement.
strengthens visibility to successfully compete for funding opportunities in the future.
a very critical thing as the federal government, state government and private investors reduce the amount of money available for public health efforts.
it partners with city of Austin departments and county departments in the integrated planning.
one of the critical aspects of this is how do we begin to plan not just for transportation and for workforce and some of the other things, but for health issues as a collaborative effort and not just in a focused area around just public health.
quickly the model looks like, I won't go through all of this, but the center focus is the community.
how do we as a community address those.
we have to involve both business, health care, education, government, public health, and grant makers.
we do that through assessing needs and resources.
we are picking our priorities.
find programs and work these programs, implement strategies and evaluate those efforts.
that is the strategy we incorporate into with a we are wanting to do.
what we are wanting to do.
we have listed here for you some of the partners that will incorporate those.
of course city of Austin and Travis County health and human services and central health will be the lead partners.
those other governmental agencies charged with public health in our community.
those will be the lead agencies.
however we are obviously going to include others as our significant partners, seton family of hospitals, u.t.
public health, st.
david's foundation, hospital, Austin Travis County integral care, u.t.
school of nursing, u.t.
school of social work, community action network, capital metro, and Austin Austinindependent school distrit and other independent school districts and the Texas association of local health officials.
just some of those partners that will be engaged as well as many, many more.
what are the benefits for Travis County?
particularly we focus in on the profile, we will get as a result of our cha, a really good picture of what the health of our community looks like.
we know anecdotally on certain parts of the county we have better than others, this cha will help us what does it look like currently as well as the opportunities.
it strengthens planning for public health in our interlocal.
as we talk about our interlocal efforts in terms of the city and county, it focuses in on how do we make a difference targeted to some demonstrated data.
it provides data resources to answer a lot of your questions that you may have about health issues in our community.
it's a vehicle for community engagement.
as I said earlier, we hope to engage and work with you in terms of how do we engage the community about the issues that we've identified, not only what the problems are, what they have identified the problems are and what they would like us to do to address those problems. Not just what we think should be done.
it incorporates demographic for the entire community.
much of what you have already done, but this looks at it from the health perspective.
strategic planning is involved and indeed it informs decision making in what is needed.
in conclusion, what is needed particularly from the court is we need your support in terms of that.
we really want to acknowledge the support that sherri and anna and all of the folks in the department has played in helping us through this.
there's no way we could have gotten through this process with that.
they have been a strong, collaborator in this and we really like to acknowledge their support that they have provided.
we will need representatives from Travis County in your upcoming meetings.
we're going to have a series of meetings.
we will need your support through your staff to help get the citizens out, find out about it, be engaged in this effort.
we need to link with your community partners plans and assessments.
we have already begun this process with sherri with the cdbg.
there's an emphasis, looking at how do we piggyback and coordinate our efforts with what's already out there.
we of course need continued support from Travis County in developing our cha chip for the entire community in order to make a difference in what we are doing.
this will be a living, breathing plan that will steer the cha chip action.
it's not one time, but an ongoing effort of our community with the leadership of our department to make a difference in terms of the quality of life, particularly as it relates to health in our community.
so we ask your support of this effort and we would be happy to answer any questions that you may have about the undertaking.
thank you.
>> I would like to applaud you for what you are doing.
this is a major undertaking that you have taken on.
and thank goodness we were maybe selected to head this particular effort up.
I guess what I'm trying to really focus on, and I did hear you on -- on several things that you made recommendation, things of that nature.
however, at the end of the day, the -- the public is going to have to get involved to really maximize and I guess the question is how do you maximize the -- the community involvement to make sure that -- that -- that there is a kind of participation for you to get a good assessment of -- of where you are trying to go.
so is that anything planned, per se, as far as how, other than of course we working with you, collaborating with you, as much as possible, to make sure that the word get out.
but -- but maximum as far as the maximum effort, though.
is there any way that you can maybe tell us how you will look at trying to get the folks out under that type of concept of maximizing the effort for input?
from the community?
>> yes, Commissioner.
there are three things that we are looking at doing.
the first one is working with -- with sherri and her staff, particularly focusing in on what is currently already ongoing in terms of working with the community.
they have identified cdbg as an effort which we are out in the community doing assessments.
that's one area.
the second area is that we're going to work with your offices to identify key leaders, key informants and focus groups that we can work with in each of the precincts and within the municipalities unincorporated areas and villages and -- of Travis County.
we want to make sure that we get all components and not just the regional approach.
so we're going to be looking for you to provide us with leaders in each of those components throughout reach to where we conduct these meetings, focal groups, others, the third area we will be having a series of meetings where we're going to market using both the public and private sector,s and others to talk about what we're trying to do and to get input and feedback at those meetings through a variety of incentives in those community to get them engaged in giving us that feedback.
so those are the three major initiatives, outreach efforts that we're going to be taking.
>> okay.
under that, I want to make sure that I get some clarity to this.
under that we have each one of us have -- each one of us, Commissioners, have a -- have -- the judge -- who have different -- we have municipalities, of course we have the -- we have the folks in the e.t.j.
and things of that nature.
so if you are looking to have a -- a meeting, in example, I'm going to say precinct 1 for an example, within precinct 1, would you look to -- within the precinct -- would you look to -- to direction from us as an office holder, my staff, to contact the -- the municipalities, that are within precinct 1 and also the -- the leaders, in fact -- but also the -- the persons out in -- that are not within -- that are not within the confines of a municipality, but out in the e.t.j.
of the county.
now, I'm just trying to mix all of this together and then the -- the area where you would like to maybe hold these particular meetings because that -- that's -- that may be a significant turnout if -- I hope so.
>> yes, Commissioner.
I think that -- that the plan is to -- to meet with your staff individually to talk about -- about the best place in your precinct.
to help us with -- with a list of names that we should particularly contact.
but also we would like to make sure that you all have appropriate information so that you can speak positively about participation in this process because while, you know, it may appear on the surface, is this something that's happening just for the city.
I can assure you that this is a process that your staff has insisted upon that includes Travis County and -- and have gotten no -- no pushback from the city on that.
this is a process that has to include the full county to talk about the needs of the entire area and so we will need the participation in each of your precincts and those municipalities in order for this plan to be truly representative of our community.
>> okay.
I just wanted to get my arm around it because -- because it's a big deal.
it's very appropriate that you go in that direction as far as the outreap.
>> towards that effort, our goal is to have multiple meetings in each precinct.
so it's -- it's not one per precinct.
so we recognize that some precincts that will be a couple of municipalities that we would want to focus in on.
others that may not be as many, but we will still need to have geographic locations within those precincts where we want to go.
so we are looking at strategies of how to maximize getting, based upon your direction, to those individuals.
>> okay.
thank you.
>> also, to existing meetings so that it's not your meeting, but it's the community's meeting to which you are coming to.
which we know many organizations within our precinct who are meeting already on issues like this and can invite this -- this effort into their already existing schedule.
this is a tremendous effort and I really want to applaud you for striking while the iron is hot.
there are so many reasons why this is needed and will work right now.
>> we have learned a lot in the cdbg process that we're hoping to apply to this process.
one example would be that we need multiple means of -- of communicating with people.
in order to -- in order to get their interests and multiple means to have them participate.
because we do know that while we get great participation from some parts of our community, some people are more comfortable filling out something and sending it back or doing it on the internet or whatever the case may be.
so we're going to use those learnings that we have in order to inform this process.
and hopefully come up with a really good product.
>> I want to thank you, sherri, for finding new and different ways to go out and meet folks where they are instead of sitting back waiting for them to show up at offices, places where -- where they have difficulty getting to and wouldn't know about them anyway.
>> we appreciate your support of that.
>> thank you.
>> what assistance do you expect from the key leaders?
>> we hope for them to identify particularly gaps that they have identified where health needs are.
and not just necessarily in health, but other ancillary type of issues, such as -- such as we have particularly in the unincorporated areas of the county, in some municipalities, food deserts and those food deserts contribute significantly to health issues in those communities.
and so key leaders stepping forth to identify ways in which they might be able to help address those issues or how they can rally communities to add them and be engage -- to address them and be engaged in those.
to have other areas that are not necessarily health issues, but are related to health, the impact of that.
we are going to want non-traditional type of responses beyond just a health issues from key leaders and key informants.
>> I would also say stressing the importance of this process.
the greater the participation, the better the product.
any opportunity that you would have to encourage your constituents to participate we will make sure your offices have talking points, we will make sure your offices have meeting notices and dates and times and locations, so that any opportunity that you have to encourage folks to participate you can take advantage of it and feel like you are informed.
>> judge and Commissioners, we also plan on having someone interview each of you specifically to have that time for you to phrase, to frame the issue as you see it from your -- from your precinct or the county's perspective.
>> but you did a grantor promise training, has that been provided already.
>> some of it has, it will continue to be ongoing training.
>> what kind of training was it.
the first phase was just sort of integration into the grant.
I participated as well as the representative from central health and the city of Austin.
and it was an opportunity for us to better understand the -- the goals of the grant.
what support will be available, what support will not be available.
and then to give grantees an opportunity to meet each other so that we can pull upon the expertise of other communities that will also be involved in this process.
because, of course, a variety of the other states that are participating may be taking a little bit different standpoint, some of them are more involved with their hospitals, for example.
rather than, you know, just the health department.
so it was an opportunity for us to meet the other grantees.
to meet the resources that will be available to us.
in the way of -- of various contracts or consultants by -- so that we would know what our resources are as we progress through this process.
>> the grantor also I guess pledged or delivered $35,000.
>> $35,000 available to us.
we will be reimbursed as we achieve certain deliverables in that process.
so, yes, $35,000 is available for -- for this effort.
>> how much would it take to complete the process?
>> we're still in the process of identifying the actual budget because we're looking at a couple of ways to approach it.
one is we're going to hire a consultant to help us go through a lot of the data analysis, to help us do some of the focus groups.
some of the -- some of the important informant interviews and a lot of other things.
so we're putting that together.
right now we're looking somewhere in the neighborhood of -- of between probably 100, to $150,000 as maximum.
our goal is to look at all of our partners in contributing to that and not any just one partner because the benefit of this is to the community as a whole.
both hospitals, both health departments, and of course central health as well.
>> and finally, the dream team of partners that you listed, have they signed on already?
are we still working on getting them or is that the wish list?
>> as part of our grant, we are asked to provide significant and critical partners.
I think six of those have already signed on.
the other ones are working with us and have indicated their support for our efforts as well.
>> okay.
court members, yes, sir, comments?
we will hear further I guess.
>> absolutely.
>> judge, at some stage of this will -- I guess the question, will there be an opportunity, I may have missed it, you may have mentioned it, but will there be an opportunity to see where we are as we progress through this process via website, Travis County website or the city of Austin website or whoever is all involved in this to -- to make sure that there may be other ways to access what we are doing.
you may have mentioned it already?
>> we did not but absolutely.
there will be a variety of ways, including periodic reports back to the Commissioners court.
>> yeah.
>> so you plan on having a central repository for all of the information so that no matter where you are, you can access the information, be updated on the -- on where, you know, for example community conditions and the health conditions of precinct 1.
>> yeah.
that would be good I think to have.
folks that want to just click on to that link, however it's developed, will just have that immediate access.
so that would just -- that was just something that I thought should be maybe laid out, also.
>> the data is -- is developed and processes moved along, we will make that available both to the city and the county website.
>> that will be good.
>> other than a pat on the back and a that-a-boy, what's expected of the court today?
>> well, we want to ask your support.
should we have to come back to get an additional support financially, we want you to be aware of what we are asking for, give you a heads up now.
we don't anticipate having to do that.
but should we have to, we would like to usually have a heads up now.
>> okay.
court members?
anything else?
thank you very much, we appreciate your patience and presentation.
we look forward to partnering with you.
>> okay.
thank you, shaun.
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