Community Assessment and Planning
All Minnesota community health boards (CHBs) are required to participate in assessment and planning to determine local public health priorities and focus local resources on the greatest community and organizational needs. This process is required to occur at least every five years (MN Statute 145A.04). Otter Tail County is part of the Prairie Lakes Community Health Board with Wilkin County.
Processes and Plans
Community Health Assessment
A community assessment is a systematic process for identifying a community’s health needs and assets. Needs assessments rely on local data to help tell the story of a community’s health challenges and methods for navigating them. Needs assessments use this data to identify discrepancies between a community’s needs and its system capacity that warrant further investigation and investment. This is summarized in the Community Health Assessment (CHA).
Community Health Improvement Plan
The CHA is part of an ongoing broader community health improvement process. After a community assessment is completed, the data is analyzed – with involvement from the community – and used to identify priority issues, develop and implement strategies for action, and establish accountability to ensure measurable health improvement. This is outlined in the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). The CHIP is a community-wide plan informed by and used by department partners.
Strategic Plan
An organizational strategic plan provides the Public Health Department and its stakeholders with a clear picture of where the department is headed, what it plans to achieve, the methods by which it will succeed, and the measures to monitor progress. The Strategic Plan is aligned with the community health improvement process and other important planning and evaluation work.
Public Health Data
Data used in the Community Health Assessment and other projects comes from a wide variety of data sources. Some data is gathered firsthand by the community health board in the form of community surveys or focus groups. Other data is gathered from data collected by someone else such as the Minnesota Department of Health or healthcare facilities. Some common public health data sources include: