Problem Statement

1. Problem Statement • Clay-Wilkin, Becker and Otter Tail Public Health identified the need for a way to regularly solicit input and advice from key stakeholders in the region about how best to address obesity and tobacco use/exposure. • Aim • The Clay-Wilkin, Becker and Otter Tail Public Health agenciesintend to establish a representative coalition of organizations and community members by June 30, 2009 for the residents of Clay, Wilkin, Becker, and Otter Tail Counties to facilitate the community leadership team’s best determination of the SHIP interventions for the four county area. • Goals • Determine coalition structure, and identify, recruit and convene key partners for the coalition by July 1, 2009. • Complete an assessment of key indicators related to SHIP interventions to guide coalition in intervention choices and strategy development in the four County areas by July 20, 2009. • Determine interventions and strategies by September 1, 2009. • Measures • Key Indicators Assessment is completed, compiled and distributed to coalition for analysis by June 30, 2009. • Coalition Charter has been developed. • Coalition membership reflects the geographic distribution and racial and ethnic diversity of the county and has committed to the coalition. • Baseline benchmarks/indicators have been determined by the coalition. DO STUDY PLAN • Steps to establish a West-Central regional coalition • Implement the plan • Drafted a coalition charter to describe mission, objectives, roles and responsibilities, communication, group norms, etc. • Identified a diverse group of potential coalition members and desired perspectives • Used fishbone diagram to outline issues that will be addressed by the coalition. • Considered how to integrate with other ongoing activities such as the Active Living project and the Healthy People initiative • Potential challenges in establishing a representative coalition of organizations and community members • Initially each county was focused on establishing their own coalition. • Challenges included narrowing down the list of potential participants to a manageable group and concerns about offending partners who were not invited to join • Lack of staff time is the primary barrier to development and maintenance of relationships with community partners • Expanded the effort to include 4 counties in the West-Central region so as to make the best uses of available resources and expertise • Standardize the improvement • 10 members confirmed their participation in the coalition • Defined leadership roles and responsibilities • Established a communication mechanism for sharing information with coalition members • 4 counties entered into the SHIP project (Becker, Clay-Wilkin and Otter Tail) • A community leadership team of 18 people plus public health directors and staff met on 4 occasions for 4 hours each • A strategic method of accomplishing the intervention selection was determined, utilized a interactive electronic response PowerPoint technology to structure the discussion and to select the interventions • Five interventions were selected • Satisfaction surveys of the meetings and intervention process were positive • Flexibility and ability to visualize redirection of Quality Improvement processes when direction changes • Important to not try to stick with same plan, “can’t put a square peg into a round hole” ACT LESSONS LEARNED