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A Healthier Future for West Virginia - Healthy People 2010
WV HP 2010
Federal 2010 Initiative

Contents
Message
Credits

Objectives

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Healthy People 2010 Logo

Introduction

Chapter Format | Implementing Change I Additional Information |Getting Involved

Healthy People

West Virginia Healthy People 2010 is the result of years of work by more than 300 people from both the public and private sectors. It is built upon the work of the West Virginia Healthy People 2000 document and the national Healthy People 2010 initiative and will serve as a guide for improving the health of our state. The purpose of West Virginia Healthy People 2010 is to provide common goals and objectives, hopefully leading to increased collaboration and motivating individuals and organizations to action. This publication is dedicated to the hundreds of individuals who devoted their time and energy to this important process.

West Virginia Healthy People 2010 is based on three basic beliefs:

  • Positive changes can be made to improve the overall health of West Virginia.
  • Measurable objectives will be helpful tools with common targets and progress tracking.
  • People and organizations working together can accomplish more than any one could achieve separately.

Positive changes can be made to improve the overall health of West Virginia. This first belief is at the root of West Virginia Healthy People 2010. It is fundamental to this endeavor that we believe as a state that positive changes are possible and that the health of West Virginia can, in fact, be improved. When we must be reminded of our ability to make positive changes, we need only to turn to the large volumes of published literature in the field of disease prevention. This documentation clearly demonstrates the positive impact that policy and environment changes and individual behavior modification can have on mortality and morbidity.

Measurable objectives with common targets and progress tracking are helpful tools in the West Virginia Healthy People 2010 document. The value of measurable objectives has been shown time and time again in business, industry, government, sports performance, and so many other areas. Common goals help motivate action. Regular tracking of progress is important as well since periodically monitoring our level of achievement and improving upon our shortcomings help result in more successful outcomes.

The West Virginia Healthy People 2010 process certainly believes that people and organizations working together can accomplish much more than any one could achieve separately. This belief generally holds true. It is, in fact, the very basis for the formation of many of the health-related coalitions that currently exist in West Virginia. The effectiveness of coalitions in bringing about change has been demonstrated in many arenas. Collaboration helps eliminate duplication of services and prevents us from "reinventing the wheel."

Chapter Format

As you review this document, you will note that each chapter has a similar format. The chapter begins with the "Background," a brief overview of the problem and a description of the impact on individuals and the state. Next, there is a listing of "The Objectives" for this particular focus area. For most objectives there is a measurable target to be reached by the year 2010 or before. In some instances, however, developmental objectives were substituted. A developmental objective is an objective that currently lacks a measurement, but one for which the work group believes measurement will be initiated. Each objective currently has or will have a baseline, or a starting point, against which to measure progress.

The next major section for each chapter is "Meeting the Objectives." At a minimum, this section lists the entities that will be leading the initiatives to reach the 2010 objectives. Some chapters go on to provide a general description of the resources that will be used in meeting the objectives. A key to understanding the role of these organizations is the concept of "channels" through which to deliver our health promotion messages and interventions. The six channels identified in each chapter are Worksite, Public Health, Health Care Systems, Schools, Networks, and Higher Education, each of which makes a unique contribution, each in a different way. For example, it is largely through the School Channel that we are able to reach youth in the school age range. Many adults can be impacted through policy interventions and health education programs through the Worksite Channel. The Networks Channel includes access through the faith community and services for senior citizens. Underlying the channels approach is the understanding that no one channel alone has the entire solution.

The final sections in each chapter include resources for those who want to become more involved with a particular focus area or simply obtain additional information. At the end of the chapter we have listed the "Work Group Members" who met to develop the chapter, a listing of some basic "References and Resources," and a "For More Information" entry, which shows the reader where to go for further information.

Implementing Change

A discussion of strategies for reaching the objectives was not included in each of the 29 chapters that make up West Virginia Healthy People 2010. It was recognized early on that we live in a rapidly changing environment and that the strategies that are appropriate today may not be applicable in the future. Medical advances, population shifts, changes in the economy, or new findings from genetic research, to name only a few, may make some strategies adopted today obsolete and require adoption of new strategies in the years to come.

The individuals who helped to write the objectives and others who want to make a difference need to work together to develop broad strategies to help us reach the objectives by the year 2010. This will be an ongoing process of strategy development, implementation, evaluation, and then the refinement of old strategies or the development of new ones.

The interest in sustainability led to the creation of a document that clearly outlines where we want to go, but not necessarily how we are going to get there. It is our hope that the work groups or lead entities will continue to meet, track and report progress, develop strategies, implement programs, evaluate these programs, and to thereby keep the West Virginia Healthy People 2010 initiative alive through this 10-year period.

West Virginia Healthy People 2010 is entrusted not to specific individuals but to various coalitions and agencies. Each chapter contains one or more lead entities that will continue to monitor and to update progress toward the objectives.

Successful implementation of West Virginia Healthy People 2010 requires a combination of approaches. Working with the public school system is important, as is working through worksites. Participation of the faith community, government, and the private sector will be necessary, as will the involvement of health care provider organizations, higher education, and voluntary associations. The challenges are too large to be addressed effectively through any one channel alone. The combination of approaches also includes not only traditional health education and an emphasis on individual behavior change, but also an emphasis on policy and environment changes such as clean indoor air regulations and the establishment of more "walkable" communities.

Further, progress toward the objectives set forth in West Virginia Healthy People 2010 will be greatly facilitated by an emphasis on "best practices," or approaches for which there is science-based evidence that the intervention is effective. Access to best practices models can come from the work done by the 24 Prevention Research Centers across the country, including the one in Morgantown, West Virginia, which concentrates on risk factors in Appalachia. Other sources are the various professional journals and materials produced by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Key to the success of West Virginia Healthy People 2010 is the ability to know whether what we are doing is effective. The contributions of entities like the West Virginia University Prevention Research Center and others can be invaluable in determining strategies that work and in discarding approaches that have not been shown to be effective.

Unlike some of the advances that were made early in the last century against infectious diseases like tuberculosis and smallpox, there is likely to be no magic bullet for most of the problems outlined in West Virginia Healthy People 2010. These challenges will require time and continued dedication of many individuals and organizations.

Additional Healthy People Information

A series of supplements following the release of West Virginia Healthy People 2010 is expected to be published over the course of the next 10 years. A group has already indicated an interest in a supplement on minority health issues. Others may include women's issues, the elderly, or youth.

A mid-course review will also be published around the middle of the decade that will provide an opportunity to re-examine objectives. Mid-course corrections may occur if, for instance, an objective is met long before the year 2010. In that case, the objective could be replaced by a more ambitious goal. Likewise, it may become obvious that an objective will be unobtainable despite our best efforts. In this case, some consideration might be given to lowering expectations to a level that is more realistic.

One of the key factors in keeping West Virginia Healthy People 2010 alive over the entire decade is widespread access to the Internet. Currently the West Virginia Healthy People 2010 objectives can be found online. This site will also be used to provide periodic updates and will eventually include the entire West Virginia Healthy People 2010 document for downloading. This site will attempt to add links from the document to other health-related websites. Ideally, this would be a two-way process with major associations linking back to the West Virginia Healthy People 2010 document from their own web sites.

Getting Involved

The Commissioner of Health for West Virginia often speaks of the Bureau for Public Health's "power to convene" or to at least bring people to the same table. This publication, West Virginia Healthy People 2010, is material evidence of what can be accomplished when people work together. While Public Health cannot, by itself, achieve the objectives outlined in West Virginia Healthy People 2010, it can and has "created the space" for people to come together with common purpose.

As you view the document before you, ask yourself if there is anything you or your organization can do to help advance this agenda and to help the state meet the 2010 objectives. If so, we invite you to contact the address given for the chapter(s) in which you are interested and let us help link you into the process and to the coalitions that are charged with meeting the objectives.

Comments on the publication should be addressed to:

Healthy People Program Manager
WV Bureau for Public Health
Room 319
350 Capitol Street
Charleston, WV 25301-3715
(304) 558-0644.

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This page was last updated June 22, 2001.
For additional information about HP2010, contact Chuck Thayer at (304) 558-0644 or Chuck.E.Thayer@wv.gov