A Healthy Hamilton County: One Community at a Time

April is the time to celebrate the role of public health in protecting and promoting the health of communities. April is the National Association of Counties’ (NACo) National County Government Month, with this year’s theme being “Healthy Counties”. In addition, the week of April 5-11th is National Public Health Week, with the theme of “Healthier America: One Community at a Time.” The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department is celebrating both observances and thanking partners for helping make Hamilton County healthier, one community at a time.

The themes of promoting healthy counties, one community at a time focus on the special role communities play in building a healthier America. The Health Department would like to recognize partners who are working to promote our community’s health by making healthy changes- big and small- in their families, individual neighborhoods, workplaces and schools.

“Our vision is to see healthy residents in a healthy community,” said Becky Barnes, Administrator at the Health Department. “We cannot do this alone. Through the collaboration and support of our community partners, we are making progress in improving and protecting the health of our community.”

Recent community-based efforts in creating a healthier community include:

· Novel H1N1 flu virus: It was last April when the novel H1N1 virus began to spread throughout the country and the globe. Over the past year, the Health Department has worked with several community partners through educational and vaccination campaigns to ensure the health of our residents. The Health Department has given over 25,000 doses of H1N1 flu vaccine with the help of 39 academic and faith-based institutions, businesses, and social service/non-profit partners who hosted Health Department vaccination clinics.

· Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) Team: Hamilton County continues to have the 2nd highest infant death rate of the four largest metropolitan areas in Tennessee. FIMR is a newly added part of our community-based, action-oriented Infant Mortality Reduction and Prevention Initiative which is designed to reduce infant deaths before their first birthday and to enhance the health of women, infants, and families in Hamilton County. FIMR consists of individual case review of local fetal and infant deaths as well as interviews with parents who have experienced an infant loss in order to understand how socioeconomic, health, educational, environmental, and safety issues relate to infant loss, and to improve community resources and systems of care.

· Grow Healthy Together Chattanooga (GHTC) partnership: The Health Department is working with community partners to identify barriers that prevent children from being active and from making healthy food choices in the East and South areas of Chattanooga. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has funded Health Department’s Step ONE (Optimize with Nutrition and Exercise) program to work closely with the Eastside Taskforce/Weed & Seed and Alton Park Development Corporation to focus on developing policies that promote physical activity and nutrition in those communities in an effort to eliminate childhood obesity.

“Our partners, through their influence on families, neighborhoods, workplaces and schools, play a major role in shaping the health of the community. Working together, we will see a healthier Hamilton County,” said Bill Ulmer, Community Health Services Director at the Health Department. “As seen through the successes of these partnerships and many others, our community is dedicated to the long-term commitment needed to address challenges and to promote the health of our community. We want to thank our partners for their dedication and support.”

In observance of National County Government Month and National Public Health Week, now is the time to think, and act, locally towards a healthier Hamilton County. Join the Health Department to find ways to champion public health in big ways and in small, in your families, neighborhoods, workplaces and schools. For more information, visit health.hamiltontn.org.