County health department and local partners integrate collaborative planning models for community health improvement

Communities use a variety of planning processes to determine their major health problems. With guidance from Health Systems Research of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, McHenry County (Illinois) Department of Health and local partners implemented two popular collaborative planning models consecutively, Healthy Communities and MAPP (Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships), designed by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The concept of “healthy communities” as an extension of traditional health planning processes gained acceptance and widespread use in the 1990s. Using this framework, eleven local partners assessed the county's health using focus groups, key informant interviews, a household survey and extensive secondary data collection and analysis encompassing demographics, social, economic, crime and safety, vital statistics and other health status indicators. The year-long Healthy Communities process set forth findings and priority health problems, which formed the basis for MAPP's community health status assessment. Through the completion of two additional MAPP assessments, Local Public Health System and Forces of Change/Themes and Strengths, the collaborative health planning process drew in additional resources and agency representation.

Using both Healthy Communities and MAPP, the broad-based involvement in community health planning by partners of McHenry County Department of Health has produced a multi-dimensional, energetic foundation for action and accountability.