Thank you for participating in the Summit for a Healthy Georgia:
Be Part of the Solution

This is a very exciting time in the state of Georgia. This past November, more than 800 people shared their time, energy and wisdom at the Summit for a Healthy Georgia. This committed group of people, representing public and private organizations, stakeholders and individuals, focused on ways to work together to improve health status.

We appreciate the participation of everyone who attended the two-day Summit as well as the teams of people who planned this landmark event.

What was the outcome of the Summit?

Day One of the Summit produced seven areas of emphasis for communities, businesses, and organizations to focus on in the coming months. These areas of emphasis demonstrate the complex nature of health and the multiple factors that contribute to health. The areas of emphasis identified are highlighted below.

On Day Two, participants convened in geographically-based groups to discuss possible strategies to achieve better outcomes in the areas of emphasis. These discussions generated some powerful ideas on how to improve health status in communities.

What has happened since the Summit?

Georgia’s movement toward becoming a safer and healthier state has just begun. Since the Summit in November, a smaller group convened to review the input of the 800+ person group and plan next steps in the process. Also, the Division of Public Health has been focusing internally on aligning our resources to better support this important change effort.

The state, local, and county public health agencies, businesses, education and non-profit organizations are already working together to improve health through various programs. Stories shared at the Summit reflect the enthusiasm and energy being put into improving health status.

A number of community activities have taken place following the Summit. As one example, the Northeast Health District (10 counties in the Athens area) was featured in the local newspaper for bringing together various partners to improve health in their region. Their creative approaches to address cardiovascular disease by purchasing blood-pressure devices to put in area barbershops, beauty parlors and churches were highlighted. (You can find the story at http://onlineathens.com/stories/012206/news_2006012217.shtml).

The Northwest Health District (10 counties in the Rome area) is using the information and momentum from the Summit to focus on improving health in their area. They took the actions proposed in the district break-out groups and found two main areas of interest: (1) promoting healthy lifestyles in children through partnerships with education; and (2) increasing access to primary care. They are focusing on developing expertise in these areas and are sharing key information with each of the ten Boards of Health and District and County staff. They reported “some of the most energetic discussions in a long time have happened following these presentations at Board meetings.”

While there are too many examples of progress to enumerate them all, we will compile them and make these accomplishments available to you on the Healthy Georgia Summit web site in the coming weeks.

What are the next steps?

Given the complexity of health and the variety of factors that contribute to health status, the development of plans to improve health will need to come from multiple sources: community, county, district, region and state. Your continued partnership will be critical to improving the health of Georgians.

Our immediate plans to continue this momentum include:

1. Update the Summit for a Healthy Georgia Web site (www.healthygeorgiasummit.org) to provide documents generated at the Summit (including the great success stories people shared) and updates as we proceed on this journey.
2. Reconvene the Public Health Action Change Team (PHACT), a broad and diverse group of the public health employees from many programs and districts, to begin developing a public health strategic health improvement plan.
3. Engage our external stakeholders and partners to join us in designing a comprehensive statewide action plan for improving health status in Georgia. We will assemble advisory teams, across the state, to oversee and advise us on the process of moving Georgians to improved health and well-being.
4. Compile and share information about best practices in community partnerships for health in Georgia. We have many examples of success that we can use in new places.

Since the Summit, many people have contacted us to offer their support. We appreciate this extension of support and will enlist your involvement as we move along the journey

What can you do?

Here are just a few ideas of actions you can take to contribute to improving health in Georgia.

• Develop population health skills, such as knowing how to describe the health status, working with groups to develop community initiatives and learning how to facilitate group work. The reading materials on our web site may be helpful tools to building this understanding http://www.healthygeorgiasummit.org/pages/3/index.htm
• Know your community’s health status and the health status of Georgia and the factors that contribute to health. Consider using a process of working to map the resources, health status, needs and opportunities to identify priorities for action. Health status information is available on the OASIS web site at http://oasis.state.ga.us/
• Learn about the project(s) going on in your community to improve health. You can find contact information and highlights on the district/county web site http://www.health.state.ga.us/regional/index.asp
• Help identify new community partners and stakeholders in your community and help build partnerships. This is a big job and will take many different contributors to continue progress.

Who should you contact with ideas or questions?

We value and appreciate your input. We are developing the ability to gather your ideas on-line. In the meantime, please feel free to send a note to Sonia Alvarez-Robinson, Director of Planning and Strategic Development, a new member of our leadership team and our primary point of contact for Summit follow-up activities. She can be reached at smarobinson@dhr.state.ga.us.

We look forward to working with you to achieve a safer and healthier Georgia!