The New York State Department of Health has launched a Prevention Agenda for the Healthiest State to support the goals of health care reform. This agenda sets ten statewide public health priorities and asks local health departments, hospitals and other community partners to work together to address them. The emphasis of this public health initiative is on prevention strategies to improve the health of all New Yorkers and foster healthy communities.

 

Priority areas include:
• Access to Quality Health Care
• Chronic Disease
• Community Preparedness
• Healthy Environment
• Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies, Healthy Children
• Infectious Disease
• Mental Health and Substance Abuse
• Physical Activity and Nutrition
• Tobacco Use
• Unintentional Injury

 

A goal of the Prevention Agenda is to prevent health problems before they occur, or before they worsen. Another goal of the Prevention Agenda is to involve a wide range of organizations and community members in developing community health plans that identify and address problems that affect the health of New Yorkers.

 

Community Resources
• Commission for a Healthy Central New York
• Community Health Assessment Facts: Herkimer County
• Community Health Assessment Facts: Oneida County
• Prevention Agenda Fact Sheet
• Prevention Agenda Preliminary Findings
• NYS DOH Herkimer County Prevention Agenda

 

The Prevention Agenda calls on local health departments and hospitals to identify two or three of the ten Prevention Agenda priorities and to work with community providers, insurers, community based organizations and others to address them. Statewide program and policy initiatives will complement local efforts.

Through a Community Health Assessment Process, Herkimer County identified the following as its Priority Areas:

• Access to Quality Health Care
• Chronic Disease
• Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies, Healthy Children
• Physical Activity and Nutrition

 

Strategies to address these Priority Areas were incorporated into Herkimer County Public Health’s Community Health Assessment and local hospitals’ Municipal Service Plans.

Community Health Assessments
• Herkimer County
• Oneida County

 

Community Service Plans
• Bassett Health Care Network
• Faxton-Saint Luke’s
• Little Falls Hospital
• Saint Elizabeth Medical Center