AHI’s North Country Population Health Improvement Program (PHIP) has unveiled a new resource portal website with the goal of reaching communities and advancing health in six Adirondack-region counties. HealthyADK (www.healthyadk.org) provides easy access to up-to-date community health data for Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Warren and Washington counties, a report creation feature, a wide-ranging resource library with links to evidence-based programs, and a listing of funding opportunities.
HealthyADK is supported by a grant from the New York State Department of Health’s Population Health Improvement Program (PHIP), and maintained by AHI (Adirondack Health Institute) in collaboration with community organizations and agencies.
HealthyADK site features:
- Access community health data;
- Connect to “evidence-based” programs and promising best practices;
- Create reports;
- Locate resources and funding opportunities;
- Explore a broad range of measures and indicators related to population health, such as health disparities;
- Access demographic information;
- Support awareness and goals of various New York State health improvement efforts.
HealthyADK builds on the goals of the Population Health Improvement Program – convene stakeholders and establish neutral forums for identifying, sharing, disseminating and helping implement best practices and strategies to promote population health and reduce health care disparities in their respective regions – using the web-based solution, Healthy Communities Institute (HCI). The HCI platform has a proven track record of supporting multi-sector community improvement initiatives and a growing track record in helping track population health in communities both in New York State and beyond.
“The site will be a valuable resource tool and provide a high return on investment for professionals from a variety of sectors to use as a one-stop data and information source,” stated Tom Tallon, PHIP Manager, AHI. “Its ultimate purpose is spurring community action that will have a positive impact on the health and well-being of individuals and families in our region.”
Improving population health requires the active and collaborative participation of multiple community sectors. HealthyADK contains information and resources that will help business owners, community development professionals, educators, community-based organization leaders, health care professionals, government officials, community members and others become involved in population health improvement efforts in the six-county region.
“Essex County Public Health uses data regularly to monitor and diagnose health issues within our communities. We also assess our social and physical environments, the economy, transportation, educational attainment of our residents and other factors that contribute to health,” stated Linda Beers, Director, Essex County Public Health. “We’re excited to see how the HealthyADK website takes all this raw data and makes it searchable and more visually-appealing to the user. This will increase access to and understanding of data to drive community interventions that support the health of our residents.”
“The launch of HealthyADK doesn’t mean the end of site development – it’s just the beginning,” explained Tallon. “The site will continue to evolve based on community needs and we strongly encourage feedback from users.”
The HealthyADK site is accessed independently from AHI’s PHIP website. The AHI PHIP site describes the PHIP work and its partners.
For more information and to provide HealthyADK site input, email Tallon at [email protected].
