Crawford County Public Health has been awarded national accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board.
Accreditation had become a requirement of the Ohio Department of Health for local agencies that wished to continue accepting public grant dollars, according to Kate Siefert, the county’s health commissioner.
The county’s health department began work on its accreditation seven years ago in 2015.
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“We were scheduled to our site visit with the site accreditation team the week that everything was initially shut down in 2020,” Siefert said. “So that got delayed.”
Virtual meetings finally allowed the extensive process to continue during the pandemic.
Accreditation sets national standards
The accreditation board is a nonprofit organization formed in 2007 that administers the national accreditation program, which Siefert said aims to advance and transform public health practice by championing performance improvement, strong infrastructure and innovation.
The national accreditation program, which receives support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, sets standards against which the nation’s governmental public health departments can continuously improve the quality of their services and performance.
More than 80% of the U.S. population now reap the benefits of being served by a health department that has undergone rigorous, multi-faceted, peer-reviewed assessment process to ensure it meets a set of quality standards and measures.
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“The value of becoming nationally accredited through PHAB extends far beyond the interior walls of the health department,” said Paul Kuehnert, president and CEO of the board. “People living and working in communities served by these health departments can be assured that their health department is strong and has the capacity to protect and promote their health. Just going through the accreditation process itself helps health departments pinpoint the areas that are critical to improving the work they do for their communities.”
A strong community partner
Receiving the accreditation was no simple task. It took several years, and included the creation of more than 500 local documents that were peer reviewed extensively.
“It was a very tedious and very thorough review of us,” Siefert said.
Representatives from a number of different organizations — schools, law enforcement agencies, private businesses and more — were interviewed by the national board throughout the process to determine how well the health department was serving the community.
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“They were really impressed with our community partnerships,” Siefert said. “Being a partner with other organizations is where there’s a lot of strength in this community.”
The accreditation process reminded staff at Crawford Public Health how many services they offer to the community, and that they need to tell everyone more frequently the many programs they offer.
Asking community what resources are wanted
“We do a lot of good things here, but we don’t always tell our own story very well,” Siefert said. “We’re a staff of doers and not necessarily the ones who cheer for ourselves, but we should because we really do a lot of good things here.”
Earning the accreditation was “a huge relief” to the director, considering a majority of her funding comes through grants. Without the mandate accreditation, she would not have been allowed to continue accepting grants.
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Now the health department staff are looking into other ways to help the community, such as tobaccos cessation sessions, free dental clinics, maternity screenings, suicide prevention resources, and many more.
“We have applied for some new grants, but nothing secured just yet,” Siefert said. “We want to get more involved with the community and get some feedback on what resources they would like.”
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