For Immediate Release: 2/26/2014 7:30 pm
Worcester, MA (February 26, 2014) - The City of Worcester's Division of Public Health (WDPH), along with UMass Memorial, Common Pathways and many other community partners gathered today and reported out on the highlights and accomplishments of the first year of the Greater Worcester Region Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).
During this meeting, WDPH unveiled a web-based health data dashboard. Over the past year, WDPH has collected baseline data in order to evaluate public health interventions implemented in the CHIP domains and to track future progress. Additionally, the Division regularly collects data related to chronic disease, contagious illnesses, health conditions and mortality.
The web-based health data dashboard will display the collected health data and allow open access to stakeholders as well as the public. The Division's new data dashboard will allow users to monitor CHIP progress, note State or national comparisons and see target goals for improving health. Initial data will provide a foundation, but the site will evolve as the Division continues to track and trend diseases, health conditions and health related states. Moreover, this information hub will expand geographically to include all communities participating in the Central Massachusetts Regional Public Health Alliance (CMRPHA). As an open access online tool, the WDPH Data Dashboard will empower community members to be active participants in making Worcester the healthiest city in New England by 2020.
"It is exciting to see all the hard word and data that has been collected in the first year of the Community Health Improvement Plan," says City Councilor Sarai Rivera, who chairs the council's Public Health & Human Services Committee. "Public Health is extremely important as it touches many different components in a community from housing, wellness and economic development. The CHIP needs to be at the forefront to show how we can make health a part of everyone's priorities."
The meeting also covered domain highlights, updates from the Public Health Task Force and a call to action. The 2013 CHIP highlights included the healthy markets initiative, regional youth health survey, safe routes to school pilot program, mental health summit, improved data collection, new partners recruited and undoing racism training.
"The CHIP has set the stage! We are well into a community engagement process that is building shared ownership for health," said Monica Lowell, UMass Memorial Health Care. "Our collective impact approach is taking innovation to another level and, for this reason, the future of Worcester being the healthiest city in New England is in our horizon."
"The Division of Public Health is committed to the long-term health and well-being in our community and with the first year of the CHIP under our belt the highlights and accomplishments being shared this evening show the impact we have made," said Derek Brindisi, Director of Public Health. "Having the support of our community partners will continue to make the CHIP a success and make Worcester a leader in health initiatives."
CHIP Background:
In commitment to the health and well-being of the community of our region, Worcester Division of Public Health in partnership with UMass Memorial, Common Pathways and over 90 other community partners, drafted the Community Health Improvement Plan in 2012. The CHIP utilizes the expertise of many individuals and organizations and aims to improve the quality of life and prosperity of residents of Greater Worcester including the communities of the Central MA Regional Public Health Alliance. The CHIP is structured around 5 domains with specific, measurable objectives to become the healthiest city and region in New England by the year 2020.
