Community Health Center Steering Committee Convenes First Meeting
Community Health Center Steering Committee Convenes First Meeting
New Opportunities’ Community Health Center planning process has sprung into action. Steering Committee members from Audubon, Carroll, Crawford and Guthrie Counties met for the first time on Thursday, March 29th to take a comprehensive look at community health care needs. Representatives from these four counties collectively give voice to business, faith, educational, local government, medical, hospital, mental health, public health, consumer, Latino, agricultural, economic development, and human services interests of the involved communities. New Opportunities’ Chief Executive Officer, Chad Jensen, thanked members for committing to the planning process and gave a brief history of the planning grant. Tori Squires, Senior Program Director for the Iowa Primary Care Association, was on hand to demonstrate how community health centers work within the existing healthcare structure and form partnerships that increase capacity and benefit both providers and patients. Members were invited to an April site visit at Primary Health Care in Marshalltown to view these healthcare provider collaborations in action. A second community health center site visit is being planned for May.
Committee members reviewed existing community health data and will assist in the planning of a more comprehensive needs assessment project in each county. Many of the community needs assessments will be distributed at community-wide meetings in Audubon, Carroll, Crawford, and Guthrie counties later this spring. Committee members will also be taking the lead on holding focus groups within each county. Local media will be heavily involved for the maximum participation. Community members in the four-county region are encouraged to look for ads, flyers, and bulletin board and newsletter announcements of the upcoming meetings. Members will review the results of the community meetings, focus groups and community needs assessments at their June meeting.
For more information, please contact Peg Naylor by phone at 712-792-9266 x213 or by email at pnaylor@newopp.org .
