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

Summary of Breakout Group Discussion Concerning:
Injury and Violence Prevention

1. What does implementing Healthy People mean to you?

• Working within a framework for health care in the United States, helping local and State groups set priorities.
• Taking action steps (specific and measurable) and incorporating activities to address the broad goals and objectives of Healthy People 2010.
• Helping to bring organizations together to address specific needs and utilize more homogeneous approaches.
• Changes the focus on accountability.
• Trying to make it "real" to the populations being served and trying to gain their "buy-in."
• Working together and empowering local groups with new skills to make changes.
• Providing incentives for organizations to look for partners to address specific objectives.
• Validating needs.

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

• Keep the messages simple and clear! Keep consistency with messages from the "Feds"--too confusing to receive requests from different agencies to do the same thing but in a different way.
• Work on standardized definitions.
• Recruit and collaborate with groups "out of the norm"--recruit unlikely partners.
• The School District Administrations and School Health Advisory Councils should be motivated to become involved; they are not currently a "motivated group" but important to have at the table. Kids need to be involved in the process.
• Local health departments cannot do it alone--need help with identifying and educating partners.
• Provide guidelines on how to develop messages and guide an infrastructure to accomplish goals.
• Disseminate information of successful partnerships and provide examples of models that work/best practices.
• Partner with local CBOs and learn from them what issues are important to them. Identify the needs of the community.

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

• Need to focus on educating the general public that Healthy People objectives exist and what they mean to their well-being.
• Barrier is that many health care professionals are not properly informed about Healthy People goals and objectives. Education programs should be instituted to educate health care professionals.
• Federal agencies need to coordinate program-funding efforts involving implementation of 2010. There is a lack of coordination between programs; for example, motor vehicles are funded in health departments (injury), transportation (highway safety), and other components within the State police and motor vehicle enforcement departments. Promoting coordination would help to focus resources.
• One challenge is to address the Healthy People 2010 objectives without focusing on funding initiatives; even though funding is vital for implementation; CBOs and other organizations can possibly focus on activities that do not require funding.
• Lack of dedicated resources, both financial and human, is a potential barrier. Need to look for opportunities for funding and introduce Healthy People into the process. "Think out of the box." Possibly require that goals or indicators be incorporated into proposals. "When the funding goes, so does the energy."
• First, how do you get the community involved with the Healthy People process, get their "buy-in"? Then, how do you sustain their involvement? Provide communities with examples of PSAs to answer "what's in it for me" and why they should get involved!
• Data challenge is to make sure data are available for all groups served, especially underrepresented groups, ethnic and minority population. Need data to guide and support interventions. 
• Need examples/information on what works and what doesn't so that communities and groups can better utilize resources.
• Barrier for school age youth is that many schools will not allow surveys that would be able to monitor progress toward meeting the objectives. What other alternatives can be utilized?

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

• Design health communication messages for each racial and ethnic group; make sure the message is simple, understandable, and sensitive to the populations being served.
• Endeavor to talk with groups and find out their issues. Look at the patterns of risk factors.
• Empower groups and get them to embrace objectives that are specific to their needs. Work with groups that may no longer be in schools, utilize faith communities, youth groups and health care groups, etc.
• Ensure that all school age children (preK-grade 12) have comprehensive school health education done by certified educators.
• Use emergency settings for interventions; try new approaches.
• Revise the current health care system; current system is ineffective to serve other groups.

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

• Measurement
  • Uniform data collection of specific objectives.
  • Publication of analysis of data.
  • Need to differentiate between the Healthy People process and needs of the community.
    
    • National and State measurements may focus on aggregate trend data whereas community or local measures may focus on "unique" issues such as bike safety programs.
  • Proficiency increases with the demonstrated skills of local groups to collaborate in support of Healthy People.
    
• Progress 
  • A qualitative measurement, especially within communities.
  • Attainment or proximal attainment of objectives.
  • Identified policy changes due to collaboration.
    
• Comments on Challenges/Barriers to Measurements and Progress 
  • Without data/baseline--very difficult. 
  • Without numbers for ethnic groups--very hard. 
  • Need subpopulations within racial and ethnic groups. 
  • Need geographical data.

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

• Keep the message simple, clear, and short.
• Personalize the information; create interest and be sensitive to the issues.
• Utilize different approaches; use ethnic media groups.
• Build long-term relationships with reporters working in health-related topics. Provide first-name contacts and user-friendly data. Be available for questions and information on topics.
• Feds should coordinate more efficiently to get the messages out.
• Work on standardized definitions and make sure the information is disseminated.
• Remember that what we know is not always apparent; need to utilize media to send the messages to those whom we are serving.

Facilitators: Tim Groza and Martha Highsmith
Recorders: Barbara Morrison and Martha Highsmith

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