The South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health, with support from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers (ASTHO) and the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI), supports the South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control (SC DHEC) in a planning process to promote use of the Community Guide to Preventative Services in their operations.
The Community Guide (www.thecommunityguide.org) is a free resource developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help public health organizations improve health and prevent disease through program and policy interventions that have been proven effective. It is a tool to promote and enable effective utilization of evidence based practices.
IMPH is working with SC DHEC to complete the following activities: 1) increase awareness and knowledge of the Community Guide among SC DHEC Management Staff through trainings and educational opportunities, 2) conduct an assessment of existing DHEC programs to determine where Community Guide recommended practices are already in place, 3) document two case studies related to the Complete Streets recommended practice for a ‘winnable battle’ to include an analysis of implementation differences in an urban versus a rural community, and 4) create a long-term plan to guide future work related to the education, promotion and implementation of the Community Guide in public health practice in South Carolina.
The results of the case studies are available in this report.