Have you heard of the Green County Healthy Community Coalition? This is a group made up of over 50 organizations across Green County, all working together to improve the health of the community. The coalition is co-chaired by representatives from Green County Public Health and SSM Health Monroe. Other groups represented in the coalition include local governmental agencies, community organizations, non-profits, educational institutions, and businesses.
Every three years, the coalition goes through a Community Health Assessment process to better understand the strengths of Green County and where there are areas for improvement. The assessment includes an online survey, interviews with community leaders, listening sessions with community members, and gathering secondary data. All of this information is used to determine what health priorities the coalition will focus on. The next step is then to develop a Community Health Improvement Plan, which outlines the coalition’s goals for the next several years.
Earlier this month, the coalition kicked off the 2024 Green County Community Health Assessment — and the first step is the community survey. This survey is now available for community members to complete!
To fill out the survey online, go to https://www.greencohcc.org/. The survey is anonymous and takes about 5-10 minutes to complete.
Questions in the survey ask about what the good and not-so-good parts are of living in Green County, what the biggest health issues are in Green County, as well what you would like to see happen in the community to improve health. After completing the survey, community members can enter to win a $25 Kwik Trip gift card! By completing this survey you’ll be making your voice heard. Your input is extremely valuable and will help guide our coalition’s work, thank you in advance for taking the time to help improve the health of Green County. If you or someone you know would like to complete the survey on paper rather than online, contact Green County Public Health at (608) 328-9390.
In addition to the survey, coalition members will be hosting community listening sessions across the county this summer to hear from community members in person. The sessions are still being planned, but to stay up-to-date about opportunities to participate, community members can follow the coalition on Facebook @GCHealthyCommunityCoalition or visit our website: https://www.greencohcc.org/.
We’ll also be conducting interviews to hear from many different community leaders and gathering secondary data from sources like the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and the Census Bureau. All of this data will be available for community members to view in the Community Health Assessment report in the fall of 2024.
The last time the coalition conducted a community health assessment was in 2021. After completing that assessment, the coalition developed a Community Health Improvement Plan focused on three health priorities: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Housing, and Mental Health. Each health priority has a work group dedicated to addressing those health issues, and the coalition members a part of each work group have been working hard over the past three years.
As a part of the Health Improvement Plan, coalition members hosted the first-ever Green County Housing Summit, along with subsequent events focused on improving housing access and availability. The coalition also brought Parent Cafes to Green County; around 10 facilitators were trained to host Parent Cafes, and in the fall of 2023, coalition members hosted the first Parent Cafe.
Additionally, coalition members provided numerous mental health training and events across the county to help reduce stigma, connect people to resources, and help prevent suicide. These are just a few highlights of what the coalition has worked on recently, but there is much more the coalition has accomplished during the organization’s 20-plus years of existence.
To learn more about the history of the coalition and to view previous health assessment reports and health improvement plans, you can visit the GCHCC website: https://www.greencohcc.org/.
— Bridget Zimmerman is the Public Health Educator for the Green County Public Health Department and can be reached at bzimmerman@greencountywi.org or 608-328-9509.
