The community health engagement process is offered to
each community eligible for the
Critical
Access
Hospital
designation. The community health engagement
process is a strategic planning process and assists local communities to (1)
identify their healthcare needs, (2) examine the social, economic, and
political realities affecting the local delivery of healthcare, (3) determine
what they want and realistically can achieve in a healthcare system to meet
the community’s needs, and (4) develop and mobilize an action plan based on
their analysis and planning.
The initial process consists of a
series of 5-7 meetings over a 4-7 month period.
First, a small initiating
group of individuals from the community meets to review the community health
engagement process, discuss the membership of the steering committee, gather
the primary data for the economic impact study, and set the date for the first
health planning meeting. A broad-based community steering
committee is organized and the first meeting is held to present the economic
impact of the health sector on the community. The steering
committee is then divided into four task forces: 1) Publicity, 2) Survey, 3)
Directory, and 4) Data and Information.
The next
two to three health planning meetings involve the
steering committee reviewing information from each task force area.
The publicity task force publicizes the process as well as provides a publicity
“blitz” the week or two before the community survey is taken.
The directory task force organizes and finalizes a community health services
directory. The survey task force develops a survey
instrument that will deal with access to healthcare and healthcare
utilization patterns. The data and information task force
presents secondary data in the areas of economic, health
and behavioral, traffic, accident, education, and crime. This
task force reviews the information and looks for strengths and/or weaknesses in
the community data. The process results in four products:
After the task forces complete their meetings, the next
community health engagement meeting will be to summarize the information
received from the task forces. The directory task force will look for
duplication of services, possible integration of services, or for services
lacking in the community. The survey task force reviews and
summarizes the survey results, looking for any areas of need in the community.
The data and information task force summarizes the needs as indicated
from the data review.
The results of the task forces are reviewed by the entire
steering committee and then prioritized by the group to determine the top 3-5
issues within the community. From these top issues, the
group develops an action plan to deal with an issue or with several issues.
The steering committee then shares their proposed action plan with the
community at large for their review and input.
The community resource team,
consisting of representatives from the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service
and the Oklahoma Office of Rural Health, provide facilitation of these 5-7
meetings. The community
health engagement process assists with the development of the action plan and
continues to help the community in the implementation of the plan.
The resource team is continuously available for updating products and for
providing follow-up services that might include a variety of budget studies.
Budget studies available include emergency medical services, adult day
services, assisted living facilities, and primary care physician.
Oklahoma Rural Health Works provides two annual OK documents for each of
the 77 counties.
Oklahoma Rural Health Works also provides community studies based on a variety of topics as needed.
These topics include:
- Physician Feasibility Studies
- An Analysis of Emergency Medical Services
- Demand For Kidney Dialysis Centers
- Adult Day Care Feasibility studies
- Rural Assisted Living Facility Feasibility
- Etc.
Contact Information
Sarah Boggs
Assistant Extension Specialist
OSU Cooperative Extension
Oklahoma State University
526 Agricultural Hall
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: (405) 744-4857
Fax: (405) 945-9185
Email: sarah.boggs@okstate.edu
Corie Kaiser
Regional Health Consultant
Oklahoma Office of Rural Health
Oklahoma State University
900 N. Portland Ave, Suite BT-200
Oklahoma City, OK 73107
Phone: (405) 945-9197
Fax: (405) 945-9186
E-mail: corie.kaiser@okstate.edu
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