For many years now, the Green County Healthy Community Coalition has been working to improve health in our community. The coalition is made up of more than 50 community organizations, and has sub-groups that work on specific health issues. The efforts of this coalition have led to mental health services in Green County schools, the implementation of a “Drug Court” system in Green County, the development of the Fowler Dental Clinic, and the beloved “Let’s Get Moo-ving Green County” Wellness Week — just to name a few. Recently, our coalition has been super busy.
From January of this year until just a few weeks ago, our coalition members were busy collecting data on the health of Green County. This data is a part of our 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment which allows us to understand what is going well for the health of Green County, and what areas need some improvement. This data was presented to the coalition, and open to any community members, and at the end of August the coalition voted on which health issues our coalition needs to prioritize working on.
New sub-groups were formed to address the three health issues that were selected. These groups will look at additional data, set goals, and create a plan to positively impact the community.
One of the issues chosen was Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs. ACEs are various forms of emotional and physical abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction experienced in childhood. ACEs have been associated with negative health outcomes that can affect people throughout their life. To learn more about ACEs people should check out the TED Talk “How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime” by Nadine Burke Harris.
Another health priority that was chosen was Housing. Affordable housing was seen as an issue by many community members who participated in the Community Health Needs Assessment. Additionally, safe housing is essential for a healthy community. Issues such as lead in homes, radon, or flooding all impact our community’s health.
The third health issue that was selected was Mental Health, which has been one of the coalition’s health priorities for the last several years. Everyone has mental health, just like everyone has physical health — and supporting the mental health of our community is essential for a healthy community.
Green County Community members are welcomed and encouraged to get involved with any of these sub-groups or the coalition as a whole. Each sub-group usually meets once per month, and the full coalition meets quarterly. Over the next few months the sub-groups will be working on creating goals, objectives and planning some actions they will take over the next three years. If you have ideas and one these priorities peaks your interest now is the time to join! People who want to get involved should visit https://www.greencohcc.org/ and click on the “Contact” button at the top of the website.
We’re looking forward to seeing all of the amazing things our coalition and work-groups will accomplish over the next few years. Thank you to the community members who are a part of the coalition and all of their efforts to improve the health of Green County. If you’d like to stay up-to-date on what the coalition is up to but can’t get involved follow us on Facebook!
— Bridget Craker is the Public Health Educator for the Green County Public Health Department and can be reached at bcraker@greengountywi.org or 608-328-9509.
