Community Health Improvement Plan
For a full understanding of where the Community Health Improvement Plan starts, we recommend reading the Community Health Assessment (CHA) page first.
A community health improvement plan (CHIP) is developed by and for the community to address key health issues and social determinants of health that are identified by the community as priorities. The CHIP cycle goes hand in hand with the CHA process and as such, is redone every 3-5 years.
The CHIP is made up of 2-4 health priorities that are identified by the community, but it doesn’t stop there. For each priority, the community and partner organizations identify goals, strategies, actions, and timelines that are the basis for the plan. For instance, if a selected health priority was to increase healthy eating, Yellowhawk might work with public schools to set a goal for healthy food in vending machines and within the school cafeteria. The organizations that agree to be a part of the CHIP then track their progress on the goals, and monitor and report on how the goals are progressing.
The CDC states that “social determinants of health (SDOH) … are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life.” The process of community health improvement planning is to work within the community to make changes to the systems that affect our health, as well as our individual behaviors.
The CHIP is not something Yellowhawk alone can accomplish. Though we steward the process, we rely on our community partners and community members to work with us in our efforts to improve.
A new CHIP is currently in the works based on the data from the 2021 CHA, but we need your feedback and support to guide and shape this plan.
Thank you to those who took a moment to take our survey or attended one of our community feedback sessions.
If you have direct questions or would like more information about this process, please contact the Public Health Accreditation and Grant Coordinator, Chelsea Hallam, by phone at 541.240.8429 or through email at chelseahallam@yellowhawk.org.
For more information about CHIPs in general or SDOH, please visit the following CDC information pages: