Tioga County Partnership for Community Health

The purpose of ATOD is to assist school districts, churches, businesses, governmental agencies, and health care providers within Tioga County that are involved in ATOD abuse prevention and treatment. ATOD serves as a forum to facilitate information sharing among interested participants; supports the providers of countywide prevention, education, treatment, and related services, where possible, to coordinate initiatives to maximize effectiveness of programming; and serves as a community resource to organizations interested in advocating and developing ATOD environments.

Accomplishments of ATOD include:

• The Tree of Hope at Dickens Days in December, remembering those who are in recovery from substance addiction
• Recovery Month events that include:
  • Free picnics including entertainment and refreshments at various parks throughout the county
  • Educational presentations for the community by nationally and statewide-recognized experts in the addiction field

The Community Health Awareness Work Group promotes an awareness of opportunities in Tioga County to improve the health and quality of life for all individuals.

Projects the group has worked on include:

• Economic development - Buy Tioga County
• Buckle Up - highway safety
• Well testing and fluoride awareness
• Kids First Campaign
• Leadership Tioga County, both youth and adult

Communities That Care is a grassroots initiative whose mission is to mobilize communities to build strong, positive alliances that achieve the best possible environment for youth to grow into healthy, involved adults.

CTC accomplishments include:

• Conducting the Pennsylvania Youth Survey every two years since 1999, which provides extensive data on risk and protective factors for youth
• Completing risk and resources assessments
• Completing Community Action Plans to address risk and protective factors

The mission of the Disabilities Awareness Network is to promote and encourage the employment of people with disabilities through publicity, advocacy and resolution of access barriers - both environmental and attitudinal. Additionally, the members of the work group will identify health and human services needs of people with disabilities and develop and coordinate resources to meet those needs.

DAN's activities include:

• Raising funds to construct an all-accessible playground in Wellsboro, including children with disabilities
• Sponsoring Mentoring Day, in which youth with disabilities visit worksites and "shadow" an employee to learn about employment opportunities

The Elder Services Work Group identifies the gaps in the continuum of health and Human Services provided to the elderly of Tioga County and develops projects to assist in helping with their unmet needs.

The work group's activities include:

• Providing a Senior Education Program series on such topics as cholesterol and heart disease, osteoporosis, fraud and scams, Alzheimer's Disease, living wills and trusts, powers of attorney and long-term care planning
• Producing a Senior Directory that includes all resources available to seniors in the county
• Assisting in planning Representative Matt Baker's annual Senior Expo

The mission of the Healthy Families Work Group is to engage residents, service providers, industry, and the community at large in the education, management and prevention of chronic health conditions.

The group oversees:

• The Steps to a Healthier Tioga County initiative
• The annual Shape Up Tioga County program

The mission of the Immunization Work Group is to promote community awareness, educate providers, and participate in immunization activities across the lifespan in Tioga County.

The group's work has included:

• For Immunization Week in April, the work group provides each mother who gives birth at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hospital with a back pack filled with information on immunizing her child, parenting information, diapers, and other helpful items
• The group has developed restaurant placemats highlighting a different theme for immunization for each season, such as:
  • Infant/child immunizations
  • Immunizations for college-bound students
  • Adult immunizations, such as influenza
• Providing an update on the newest practices in immunizations across the lifespan for nurses and other medical professionals

The mission of the Kids First Work Group is to help strengthen the family through the promotion of community fitness and wellness and improve the health and quality of life for the individuals and communities in Tioga County.

Kids First is active in:

• Kids First was accepted as a chapter of the PA Safe Kids Coalition in September 2006 and has provided car seats to the county's loaner program and smoke detectors to families with Safe Kids Coalition Grants
• Promoting the Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity’s Keystone Health School Zone Campaign
• Focusing on addressing childhood obesity through involvement with the Tioga County Obesity Collaborative

The Measurement and Outcomes Work Group supports the collection, analysis and distribution of data and information to the Health Partnership and Tioga county community in order to provide strategic direction, evaluate program effectiveness and establish priorities for change.

Activities of the M/O include:

• Creating and distributing a variety of "white papers" that discuss health priorities for the county, such as:
  • Overweight and Obesity
  • Tobacco Use
  • Substance Abuse
  • Environmental Health
• Assisting the Partnership in identifying health priorities for Tioga County
• Disseminating data to members, work groups and the public on a regular basis

The mission of MHAT is to improve the quality of mental health services that exist in Tioga County by identifying the gaps in services, and to develop long and short-term goals to overcome them in the most cost- effective manner.

MHAT has:

• Conducted needs assessments and determined gaps in services
• Supported NAMI
• Created a partnership with the Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, to provide educational services for mental health professionals and consultation services for professionals and patients via video technology

The mission of the NAMI is to foster public awareness and education about mental illness, to provide support to mental health consumers, their families and friends and to advocate for all who suffer from mental illness in Tioga County.

NAMI has:

• Conducted peer-to-peer training
• Conducted training to professionals on the experiences of people with mental illness

The Planning Committee assists the Partnership's Executive Committee in planning, evaluating, and recommending programming options for the Partnership.

• The planning committee spent a great deal of time taking the work done by the full Partnership at last year's annual meeting and crafting it into a holistic goal, which was adopted in January 2007 by the board of directors. The next step will be to develop strategies to accomplish that goal, as well as guide the work groups in creating their own holistic goals and strategies.

The mission of the Poverty Task Force is to promote and improve quality of life and health status of people who are economically disadvantaged. We provide education about the challenges of being poor and work collaboratively with others to seek solutions to the problems associated with poverty.

The work group is working on surveys to:

• Learn from families and individuals how their current situation developed and what resources and supports they have.
• Determine what resources and services are available to people with low incomes, and identify gaps in those services.

Tioga County Countryside Council is a citizen's organization, with a full diversity of interests. Our goal is to bridge and cross existing political, social, and economic boundaries. Our major function will be to facilitate countywide communications, planning and visioning, and cooperative action throughout Tioga County.

Among many other projects, TCCC has worked on:

• Walking Forum Series: Conversations Through the Seasons - a walking conversation in the environments of Tioga County with an eye toward the future.
• Local food promotion.
• PA Wilds
• Oral History and Film Festival
• Earth Day
• Pine Creek Trail and Marsh Creek Greenway

The mission of TECET is combine the resources and services of the community, childcare providers, and parents to educate and prepare children for success in school and life.

TECET's accomplishments include:

• An annual panel to bring together preschool and kindergarten teachers.
• Working with the Southern Tioga School District on enhancing children's transition from preschool to kindergarten.
• Promoting state initiatives that provide for quality early care and education.

The mission of the Tobacco/Asthma Coalition is to improve the health of the Tioga County community by promoting a no-use tobacco message, reducing the number of current tobacco users, preventing new tobacco users, increasing community collaboration, and improving clean indoor air.

The Coalition has:

• Contracted with local service providers to conduct:
  • Cessation from smoking classes
  • Prevention education in school
• Participated in Kick Butts Day and the Great American Smokeout.