Local Health Department is One of 22 Awardees Nationwide to Receive NACCHO “Model Practice Award” in 2014
Cobb & Douglas Public Health (CDPH) was honored last week at the 2014 annual conference of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), a body of peers representing over 2800 local health departments, for developing and implementing a practice that demonstrates exemplary and replicable qualities in response to a local public health need. The Program Summary Tool: An Evaluation Framework for Public Health Program Success received one of 22 NACCHO Model Practice Awards given to local public health programs.
Cobb & Douglas Public Health is committed to excellence through continual performance evaluation and quality improvement. The Program Summary Tool has demonstrated success in numerous ways as a source of readily available information for marketing, grant proposals, and education regarding the type and scope of public health programs, alignment of our public health programs to the Ten Essential Services of Public Health and Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) documentation requirements. As a result of four years of demonstrated success and a historical repository of completed tools shared with all staff on our Intranet, the Program Summary Tool has become incorporated in agency operations. CDPH recommends use of the Tool for performance monitoring among other local health departments. The possibilities for collecting and evaluating data through this adaptable Tool are numerous and it could be used to quantify and celebrate public health program contributions to improving health on a national scale.
“We are proud to receive NACCHO’s Model Practice Award. The award is evidence of our commitment to developing responsive and innovative public health programs and tools that improve the health of local residents,” said Dr. Jack Kennedy, District Health Director for Cobb & Douglas Public Health.
Each innovative project receiving the award was peer-reviewed (by other local health department professionals) and selected. Since 2003, NACCHO’s Model Practice Awards program has honored initiatives—including programs, resources, and tools—that demonstrate how local health departments and their community partners can effectively collaborate to address local public health concerns. The Program Summary Tool: An Evaluation Framework for Public Health Program Success is now part of an online, searchable database of successful public health practices in areas ranging from immunization and maternal and child health to infectious diseases and emergency preparedness. The NACCHO Model Practice database allows users to benefit from colleagues’ experiences, to learn what works, and to ensure that resources are used wisely on effective programs that have been implemented with good results. It also enables NACCHO to share information with key stakeholders and media about the good work being done by local health departments across the country.
This award puts Cobb & Douglas Public Health into special company—a select group of health departments that exemplify a forward thinking, proactive attitude toward protecting and promoting the health of communities across the nation.
Cobb & Douglas Public Health previously won a 2012 NACCHO Model Practice Award for its innovative program Center for Organizational Performance and Strategy Management.
For more information about the NACCHO Model Practice Awards and to view a list of other award winners, go to www.naccho.org.
About the National Association of County and City Health Officials
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the nation’s 2,800 local governmental health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities.