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(Little
Rock) -- Who says three counties can’t work together to improve the health of
their citizens? Certainly
no one in Boone, Marion or Baxter Counties will make that
statement. In
fact, words like “rewarding,” “great partnerships” and
“making a difference” are more likely what you will hear
if you talk to members of the Hometown Health Coalitions and
the Tobacco Free Coalitions in these counties.
That’s because Boone, Marion and Baxter community
members realize they can better improve the health of their
citizens by partnering on issues like tobacco and drug
prevention in the schools and community, environmental health,
bioterrorism, and communicable disease, just to name a few.
According to Marie Thompson, a Marion County HomeTown Health coalition
board member and, coincidentally a Baxter County health care
employee, “ This has provided us with a unique
opportunity to pool resources, work together to assess our
community health needs, and develop plans to solve identified
problems.”
One of
the first county partnerships evolved in Baxter and Marion
counties with the first bioterrorism smallpox mock exercise in
the state. Although
the mock exercise took place in Baxter County, Marion County
sent volunteers and health care workers to help staff the
exercise that actually provided flu vaccines to participants.
Currently,
Marion County Hometown Health, Inc. and Baxter Hometown
Health, through a Mid-Delta
Consortium-Arkansas Delta Rural Development Network grant, are
contracting to have the University
of Arkansas at Little Rock conduct a Behavioral Risk Factor
Surveillance Survey in the counties.
Marion is serving as the fiscal agent and Marion
members are publicizing the upcoming survey
in both counties.
Many partnership examples exist but the flagship of this
Tri-County partnership remains the ongoing efforts to reduce
the death, disease and disability related to tobacco usage in
the counties. Deaths
due to heart disease, cancer, stroke, and lung disease rank
very high in all three counties.
To combat this tragedy, the counties received tobacco
grants from the Arkansas Department of Health.
“We are very fortunate to be able to use funding from
the master tobacco settlement to incorporate community
programs and school-based tobacco prevention activities for
the education of our youth on the harmful and deadly effects
of tobacco,” said Jan Layton, Community Health Nurse
Specialist based out of the O.U.R Educational Cooperative.
Examples
of joint activities include:
- The
three tobacco coalitions program coordinators meeting
routinely to plan inter-county efforts.
- Joint
media efforts resulting in radio and newspaper
anti-tobacco ads running in the three counties.
The media efforts are
contributing to education on the dangers of smoking and
secondhand smoke.
We know that smoking kills more people than fires,
alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders and
suicides combined.
- The
general community is getting involved.
For example, Clay Parton volunteered his time to
develop Marion, Baxter and Boone County grants and
provided training for all three counties.
- Among
many other community groups, the North Arkansas
Partnership for Health Education (NAPHE)
and North Arkansas Drug Abuse Prevention (NADAP, the local
Prevention Resources Center)
provided extensive support.
NADAP is the fiduciary
agent for the Baxter County Tobacco
grant, and Andrea Parton, Executive Director, is a
founding partner of the Marion County
Hometown Health Initiative.
- Trainings
and events are shared routinely among the counties.
- The
Hometown Health coalitions are recipients of $1,000
Prevention Resource Center mini-grants in Baxter,
Marion, Newton and Searcy counties each year.
They use these funds to build their coalition
and provide alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention
services locally.
Debbie
Johnson, the Northwest Hometown Health Team Leader, sums
up the efforts best, “ These three
counties have shown that community partnerships can make a
difference by sharing resources, people
and knowledge. We
are all one community and can help each other to improve
the health of all
our citizens.”
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