Agencies to develop community-improvement plan

Goal is to promote physical and mental health in Valley

The Valley Council for Health & Human Services, a partnership network of health and human service providers serving residents of the Lower Naugatuck Valley, and the Naugatuck Valley Health District are sponsoring a participatory planning process to develop an action plan to improve physical and mental health in the Valley community. 

Support for this planning process is being provided by the Naugatuck Valley Health District and a grant from the Valley Community Foundation given to the Valley Council to fund community action planning to promote health. 

This process follows an extensive effort by the Valley Council member agencies to conduct an assessment of quality-of-life in the Valley, which resulted in the 2010 Valley CARES Quality of Life Report (available at the Valley Council website: www.valleycouncil.org).

 As Pamela Mautte, Director of the Greater Valley Substance Abuse Action Council and Current Chair of the Valley Council for Health & Human Services, said, “The Valley has been recognized as a model in our state of effective collaboration among non-profit agencies and other community partners to collect data on our community that can motivate real action for change.” 

The Valley Council’s member agencies, including the Naugatuck Valley Health District and Griffin Hospital, are continuing to coordinate efforts to shape future community assessment updates as well as community-wide planning efforts to improve health and well-being in the Valley. 

Karen N. Spargo, Director of Health at the NVHD, highlighted the importance of community participation in the planning process.
 “Our goal is to involve a broad set of stakeholders and interested community members in a participatory process,” she said.  “Our hope is to develop a solid community health improvement plan that sets priorities, coordinates the use of resources, and develops projects and programs that better enable our residents to improve their health and well-being.” 

The planning process will involve reviewing the key areas of strength and need in the community, as they have been identified in the Valley CARES Quality of Life Report, the Community Health Profile and other recent community health assessments.

The process will begin with two large group meetings with a broad range of community representatives to identify priority areas for action and specific objectives for each area.
The first meeting is scheduled for June 26.  Following these initial meetings, smaller sub-groups will meet to develop work plans for specific objectives.
The goal is to complete the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) by the close of 2012 and to begin implementing its elements and strategies as part of a community partnership to improve health.

Persons interested in participating in the planning process should contact Karen Spargo, 203-881-2288 or Heidi Zavatone-Veth, 203-926-9478. 

The above information was provided by Heidi Zavatone-Veth.