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About Us

What is the County Health Alliance?

  • An initiative to address health improvement through regional collaboration, innovation and accountability.
  • A coalition of talent from the government, business, health care, non-profit, academic and philanthropic sectors.
  • An opportunity to develop and implement a robust organizational and public policy agenda that prevents and reduces the burden of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity.
  • A two-tiered health improvement project consisting of a worksite health and wellness component (Phase 1) and a community health and wellness component (Phase 2).
  • Work within the Socio-Ecological Model to focus on health and wellness through educational programs; organizational policies; community, systems and environmental changes; and public policies.
  • A call to collective action.
  • "Embracing a health and wellness culture which mirrors the excellence of our major medical institutions." Edward FitzGerald, Cuyahoga County Executive, 2012 State of the County address. Principle #6, Western Reserve Plan: http://westernreserveplan.org/  

Benefits of Joining

  • Shared- learning and capacity-building
  • Potential cost-savings on employee health care due to improved employee health
  • Tools to help in conducting worksite and community policy and service audits
  • Enhancing employee and community engagement
  • Implementing an evidence-based policy and systems change agenda  

 

2012 Pilot Project

  • Engage over 20 communities
  • Focus on employee health first
  • Work off a menu of worksite health and wellness options
  • Build employee wellness team(s) within organizations
  • Secure institutional volunteers
  • Provide tool kit
  • Participate in evaluation of the County Health Alliance

Menu of Options for Worksite Health and Wellness: Phase 1

  1. Join regionalized health care benefits initiative
  2. Provide education series
  3. Switch to healthy food options in vending machines and cafes.
  4. Examine Farm-to-Institution (local food) purchasing policies
  5. Use Point of Decision prompts to promote physical activity
  6. Install bike racks and promote bike-to-work programs
  7. Promote charity swim/bike/run /walk events
  8. Designate 100% smoke free campuses
  9. Promote smoking cessation and prevention through health benefits and incentives
  10. Promote influenza vaccination
  11. Establish lactation policies
  12. Provide stress management services

Fast Facts

  • The 2012 County Health Rankings ranked Cuyahoga County 65th out of 88 Ohio counties for health outcomes.
  • Cuyahoga County is experiencing a trend of chronic diseases and heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, unintentional injuries and Alzheimer’s disease are the leading causes of death in the county (Ohio Department of Health (ODH), 2010). 
  • Smoking is the leading preventable cause of disease and premature death in Ohio -- 20.2% of Cuyahoga County adults smoke cigarettes (ODH, 2008). 
  • In 2007, 35.6% of county adults were told by their doctor that they had high cholesterol (ODH, 2008). 
  • In 2007, 36.9% of county adults were overweight and 24.7% were obese (ODH, 2008). 
  • According to Michigan's Healthy Workplaces Resource Guide, "Comprehensive worksite health programs focused on lifestyle behavior change have been shown to yield a $3-$6 return on investment (ROI) for each dollar invested, (State of Michigan, 2008).