Crook County Health Department receives honor

PRINEVILLE, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Crook County Health Department has been honored with the 2020 Model Practice Award by the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

The award celebrates local health departments for developing programs that demonstrate exemplary and replicable best practices in response to a critical local public health need. Students for Public Health Policy and Systems Change was one of 21 local health department programs to receive NACCHO’s prestigious Model Practice Award.

The program is an initiative to effectively engage young people in public health efforts and includes a variety of opportunities for student involvement.  Examples include middle and high school-aged students leading projects through Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) chapters at their schools to promote health, safety, and well-being among their peers.

Also, high school students engage in paid and unpaid internships and staff positions with the health department. Supporting civic engagement and health advocacy are core goals of the project. 

“We are proud to receive NACCHO’s Model Practice Award.  The award is evidence of our commitment to developing responsive and innovative public health programs that improve the health of local residents,” said Katie Plumb, Deputy Director at the Crook County Health Department. 

Since 2003, NACCHO’s Model Practice Awards have honored programs, resources, and tools that demonstrate how local health departments and their community partners can effectively collaborate to address local public health challenges. Each innovative project receiving the Model Practice Award was peer-reviewed and selected from a competitive group of over 100 applicants.

Students for Public Health Policy and Systems Change is now part of an online, searchable database of successful public health practices in areas that range from immunization and maternal and child health, to infectious diseases and emergency preparedness. The NACCHO Model Practice database allows local health departments, public health partners, and other important stakeholders to learn about the good work being done by local health departments across the country.  The database also provides users an opportunity to learn from best practices and what resources are needed to implement comparable programs in other jurisdictions that produce results.

Read more about these award-winning programs at:                https://application.naccho.org/Public/Applications/Search.