Removing program borders: Illinois' approach to develop collaborations among chronic disease programs to reach persons with disabilities

This presentation features Illinois' approach in collaborating with existing public health projects with a goal of promoting health and preventing secondary conditions among persons with disabilities. The population with disability includes a wide range of individuals with different demography, etiology, functional ability, and lifestyle. When conducting health promotion activities for this population, it is necessary to garner the support of many different groups with an interest or expertise in specific chronic diseases or specific lifestyle behaviors. Many disease prevention and/or health promotion programs share common goals and reach out to similar target audiences. Yet they create “borders” around their programs and do not attempt to join forces with their counterparts who are planning similar activities or have common goals. By breaking down the borders and joining together, often the results can be exponential. Funded by CDC's Disability and Health program, the Illinois Disability and Health Program (IDHP) is one of the sixteen state programs working toward better health of persons with disabilities. Housed in the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Program has been developing collaborations with many programs including Tobacco, Nutrition and Physical Activity, Arthritis, Comprehensive Cancer, Asthma, Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, Men's Health, Women's Health, Oral Health, Vision and Hearing, Minority Health. This presentation will give examples of how the IDHP created “win-win” situations to facilitate collaborations with tobacco, arthritis, and nutrition programs to reduce secondary chronic conditions among people with disabilities.