Healthy People Consortium Meeting
"Implementing Healthy People 2010"
November 11, 2000

Summary of Breakout Group Discussion Concerning:
Educational and Community-Based Programs

What does implementing Healthy People 2010 mean to you? 

• Implementing means having an accountability structure.
• Taking the two overarching goals to the citizens and helping them understand what the benefits are (take Healthy People 2010 to the people).
• Apply the Community Health Improvement Process (CHIP) to an indicator.

How do you suggest we work with local community groups in implementing the Healthy People 2010 objectives?

School Setting

• School environment--improving nutrition (vending machines are questionable). Work with medical organizations to do a call to action to change the school environment in a number of activities such as physical activity, nutrition/food, etc. USDA's Web site has more information on such ongoing initiatives (look under teen nutrition).
• Accountability of the business industry providing food for the schools. Impacts on the college and university level go far beyond the campus setting. Try to create a campus/community connection on how to best use resources (true for K-12 as well). Identifying stakeholders is important.
• There is much qualitative data available, but not a lot of quantitative data. Better data are needed. Partners of health and education need to connect. We need school administrators at the table because they need to understand the value of such partnerships and programs.
• The practitioners' buy-in is vital to bridging the gap--empower the local practitioners of public health. Even more, we need the buy-in of local PTO presidents, coaches, and local people and community groups where there aren't any public health practitioners.
• Emphasize parents as the primary educators of children and remind them of the example they set. Provide materials to aid parents, materials that are consistent with those in schools. Engage the parents!
• Colleges and universities are important partners in communities, in promoting health. The role of PSIs is important.
• Healthy Campus 2010, a companion document to Healthy People2010, has been developed by ACHA--to be completed in May 2001.

Business/Worksite Setting

• The patience level is low; employers want answers about (1) who is involved, (2) where is this going (a sense of direction), and (3) what is in it for me? Walking in with a sense of alignment and payoff is critical when trying to implement worksite wellness programs, etc.
• People don't embrace grandiose schemes if they're not involved; employers' buy-in is needed in the planning stages.
• Make the case to the bottom line to the employers; show them how they'll have lowered costs and lower absenteeism through wellness programs.
• Show employers that workers are part of their community.
• Employers are interested in what they HAVE to do. Inspire them to WANT to do experimentation with wellness programs. The challenge is making them aware. Educate employers on Healthy People 2010 initiatives.
• The health of communities directly impacts the economic productivity of the workplace/employers--in both small and large companies. Another companion document, Healthy Workforce 2010, is being planned. Awards are being designed for implementation of this at worksites.
• Provide information about benefits of wellness programs. This would increase support and interest in them.

Health Care Setting

• Older adults are part of the community--ready, willing, and able--so integrate them rather than separating them.
• Three points are critical: (1) mission, (2) community benefit obligation, and (3) paradigm shift.
• Recommend that we align annual operating initiatives with Healthy People 2010 initiatives.
• Speak to outcomes and measurements.

Community Setting

• Housing for older Americans--housing can be more than shelter.
• Work with community worksites, schools, local health care centers. These cannot be approached separately if we want to be effective. 
• Need for informal community groups.
• Include the mayor, city council, cit planners (make it livable, walk-able).
• Figure out how to infiltrate land-use planning, worksites, etc. Go to THEM, don't just bring them to OUR meetings. Need Healthy People 2010 targets in local initiatives.
• Need a key contact in communities; someone needs to be the Healthy People 2010 coordinator for the local area.

What are the challenges/barriers to meeting the Healthy People 2010 objectives? And how do you suggest we work to overcome them?

School Setting

• Parents need more information/awareness of potential health problems. We need more screening services.
• Accountability--connection between health and learning.
• Interagency connectedness at a State level (e.g., make health an educational issue). Help people understand the great value of working together on these issues.

Worksite, Health Care, and Community Settings

• Struggling with partnership equity at the table. Need partnership equity in order for both/all sides to get messages across.
• WILL is a great challenge--to have people discover for themselves the importance of this--the "will" of the people.
• Expand, redefine what is meant by the "bottom line." Show short-term AND long-term benefits/approaches.
• This is an economic competitiveness issue for regions/cities.
• Challenge to employers: which employers participate in providing wellness programs? Try to raise competition.
• Employees should know that they have the right to be well. Need more communication to employees about this. Employers have an interest in worksite wellness because of this.
• An integrated effort is needed because there is tremendous overlap in interests.
• Provide training for public health providers. Make sure they know and understand the broad perspective on what public health means. All successes are combined.

What can we do to support the elimination of health disparities among racial and ethnic population groups?

• Link health disparities, racism, classism.
• Adapt successful/effective strategies by ethnicities to give more focus.

How do we measure progress of Healthy People 2010 in the future? And what is progress?

• Collecting data.
• Level of recognition outside the public health community.
• Measure objectives locally, select 1-2 indicators and try to FOCUS, incrementally and consistently (is a mid-term review enough?). Be consistent with nomenclature.
• Make reports available on the Internet.
• Look carefully at the measures we use. Develop new measurements that measure community capacity and development.

How can we work more effectively with the media in implementing the Healthy People 2010 objectives?

• Put a local face on the issues; need human interest in it. Need results to show.
• Make the information into an abstract (so media can decide if they want to read it or not).
• Educate the media and others about variety of evidence-gathering methods.
• Concise synopsis of latest issues in Healthy People research for release to the media to report.
• Give ownership of Healthy People2010 outside of the public health arena. Bring it to sports arena, athletes, cereal boxes, poster contests in local areas/communities, etc. Make it LOCAL.
• Put a personal story/human face on the information.

Back to Consortium 2000 Table of Contents