Recorded presentation

Lisa Macon-Harrison, BSPH¹, Dorothy Cilenti², Pia MacDonald, PhD, MPH³, Mary Davis, DrPH, MSPH³, Tara Pierce Rybka³, Jean K. Vukoson, FNP⁴, and Rachel Stevens, EdD, RN⁵. (1) NC Institute for Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, 919-843-5559, lisa_macon@unc.edu, (2) Chatham County Health Department, 80 East Street, PO Box 130, Pittsboro, NC 27312, (3) NC Institute for Public Health, UNC School of Public Health, CB 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8165, (4) Division Head Preventive Health Care, Chatham County Public Health Department, 80 East Street, Pittsboro, NC 27312, (5) NC Institute for Public Health, UNC at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health, CB# 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8165

The UNC School of Public Health is working with the NC Division of Public Health and four local health departments to create, pilot, and evaluate collaborative models of education, service, and research. This session focuses on the Chatham County Health Department (CCHD) model of life-long learning, which encourages individual use of an online learning management system and provides scholarships for education. Seventy-nine individuals in CCHD submitted online assessment data. Based on individual responses, training needs identified for Emergency Preparedness and Response Competencies and Core Public Health Competencies were matched to continuing education opportunities. Priority needs for the overall workforce also were identified for both sets of competencies. Priority Emergency Preparedness and Response training needs for public health workers include: describing the responsibilities of a health department during an emergency situation, describing a health department's emergency response plan, carrying out individual roles and responsibilities in an emergency response, and finding resources that will help carry out individual responsibilities during an emergency. Priority Core Competency training needs include: staying informed of public health laws and regulations, being aware of important health problems, identifying cultural, social, and behavioral factors that affect health, providing health promotion and disease prevention information, interacting effectively with people from diverse backgrounds, and collecting, summarizing, and interpreting information relevant to a health issue. Outcomes include personal career development for individual staff members, skill development in an actively functioning health department, and improvement of the relationship between the agency and the school of public health.

Learning Objectives: The learner should be able to

• Identify ways to enhance the capacity of local health agencies to function as learning organizations through active partnerships with academic institutions.
• Identify elements of successful partnerships between health agencies and academic institutions to address workforce development.
• Identify examples of training needs and be familiar with efficient methods to meet adult full time public health workers’ learning needs.

Keywords: Local Public Health Agencies, Partnerships

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation