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Rock County Public Health staff, October 2024 |
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In 2021, Rock County Public Health (RCPH) received a grant through the Wisconsin Partnership Program, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, to improve birth outcomes by increasing access to doulas. At the end of the project, RCPH partnered with a consultant to evaluate the project's impact.
As detailed in the Impact Evaluation, increasing access to doulas may result in an estimated annual Medicaid cost savings of over $750,000 in Rock County, with just over $1,000 in estimated savings per doula-attended birth.
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Community Health Improvement Plan
The 2022-2024 Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) Final Report is now available on the RCPH website. The final report gives a full view of the work completed by the Mental Health and Access to Care subcommittees and the outcomes each activity had to improve the priority areas. The subcommittees were formed from the Health Equity Alliance of Rock County multi-sector coalition that facilitates the community health improvement process. A new addition to this report is the "Partner Highlight" section that showcases the work happening outside the subcommittees that aligned with the CHIP goals.
Going forward, community health assessments and improvement plan reports will be located within the Healthy Rock website. This allows for more frequent updates to the progress being made within CHIP work. Check out the website for the newest initiatives of the 2025-2027 CHIP which prioritizes Housing and Mental Health in Rock County.
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Blackhawk Tech - Parent Resource Fair
Public Health Nurses Kristi and Janalyn attended Blackhawk Technical College's Parent Resource Fair. They shared useful information for parenting students about general services provided by RCPH as well as safe sleep, breastfeeding, community resources for parents, and our lead and asthma programs. They also made connections to continue our work and collaboration with Blackhawk Tech.
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WCLO Interview - Respiratory Illnesses and Mental Health
Health Officer Katrina Harwood was a guest on the "Your Talk Show" podcast in December. She discussed strategies to combat respiratory virus season this winter, including seeking vaccines that may reduce the risk or severity of illness from certain respiratory viruses.
Katrina also detailed the importance of addressing mental health, especially in the holiday season. RCPH offers mental health resources on our CredibleMind website.
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COVID Vaccine and Respiratory Illnesses
Public Health Supervisor Kelsey Cordova was featured in a Gazette article discussing the low number of individuals who received this year's COVID vaccine. She explained how in addition to most COVID-associated hospitalizations in Rock County occurring in unvaccinated individuals, being unvaccinated also causes unnecessary and burdensome illness that leads to missing school and work.
Kelsey was also interviewed by Beloit Daily News for an article about the rise in respiratory illnesses in Rock County. She noted an increase in COVID- and influenza-associated hospitalizations as well as the recent rise in RSV diagnoses.
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Email Scam Targets Licensed Facilities
RCPH was featured in a Gazette article that warned people about a recent email scam. This scam targeted licensed facilities in Rock County through sending an email which claimed to come from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP).
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Blackhawk Tech - Project Management Training
RCPH recently partnered with Blackhawk Technical College (BTC) on a three-part training series to help build skills in project management. Project management refers to different processes and tools that help us plan, complete, and assess our work. With the help of a BTC trainer, we learned about a variety of project management concepts and worked through real project examples to apply each concept to our work.
The three-part training ended with a brief presentation from each participant where they described their project using the materials taught throughout the series. The trainings were a great opportunity to build our project management skills and strengthen our partnership with BTC.
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