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Montana's Rural Health Initiative
The Montana Rural Health Initiative (RHI) is a collaborative effort to create a dynamic network linking prevention and community-based wellness programs throughout Montana. The Rural Health Initiative engages partners to share ideas and expertise and support communities in improving health. RHI is currently managed through the Montana Office of Rural Health/Area Health Education Center.
Rural Health Initiative Activities:
I. Create and maintain a highly interactive website that includes:
- Details of local prevention and community-based wellness programs
- Calendar of events
- Database of experienced individuals willing to offer advice and assistance
- Links to state and national prevention and wellness resources
II. Encourage networking and collaboration by communicating with RHI website members via a listserv and e-newsletter
III. Strengthen local efforts to encourage healthy lifestyle choices and create prevention focused communities by linking the expertise of Montanans to communities in need of assistance Consider mechanisms to jump start new and support ongoing local prevention and wellness programs
IV. Provide educational programs, including Webinars, designed to increase the capacity of local communities to provide prevention and wellness programs. The webinars begin January 2009. The date and times are to be announced.
If you are having trouble viewing the webinars, please download the software by clicking Here.
- Click Here to view "Montana's Safe Routed to School - Encouraging Active Lifestyles" with Taylor Lonsdale.
- Click Here to view "Connecting Schools to Local Produce" with Katie Bark and Mary Stein. To view the PowerPoint Click Here. The Garden Pilot Research Article Download.
- Click Here to view "Walking Trails 101" with Gene Townsend, Mayor of Three Forks. Due to technical difficulties the audio was not recorded. If you have any questions about this program, please contact, Mayor Gene Townsend at 406-285-3431.
- Click Here to view "Worksite Wellness Strategies in Rural Montana" Rachel Hess Meech and Tracy Dobie.
- Click Here to view “Healthy Employees = Healthy Business” Deb Lundberg
- Click Here to view “Health and Wellness in Rural Montana…the City of Shelby’s Answer” Mayor Bonderud and Lorette Carter. If you would like a copy of the powerpoint, it is available to download here.
- Click Here to view “More Kids in the Woods...on Snowshoes: The Lewis and Clark Forest and Great Falls Public Schools Team Up to Give Every Fifth Grader a Chance to Experience Activity and Nature” Peggy BeltroneClick Here to view “Unplug and Play! Why Limiting TV and Other “Screen Time” is Good for Health” Cathy Costakis February 2nd at 2 pm MT.
For more information, please contact Shalina Mirza at 406-994-5310 or shalina.mirza@montana.edu
Background: In February 2008, RHI partners convened a meeting of stakeholders including community members, academics, local government officials, health care providers, public health workers, Tribal Health Department representatives and nonprofit organizations among others to discuss the potential for a coordinated, collaborative approach to prevention and wellness in Montana. During the day and a half sessions, community leaders and experts developed a strategy to improve health in Montana by linking community health initiatives to each other as well as to the expertise that already exists in the state.
The core recommendation of the RHI stakeholder meeting was to “create a network of health experts, programs, and initiatives across Montana.” Participants suggested the following activities to achieve this goal:
- Create an on-line community and network of information/resources to address community health issues and promote healthy communities by sharing information on research, activities, and strategies that work in Montana communities.
A highly interactive website provides the platform for connecting Montana communities. The website should include Montana specific resources, community stories and projects, and profiles of Montanans with experience implementing community-based projects. Additional features of the online network included WebEx seminars on prevention and wellness strategies, an e-newsletters and sustained e-dialogue supporting all Montana communities in their health improvement programs. Montana is a wired state; rural and frontier communities often utilize advanced Internet and telemedicine networks.
- Create a cadre of experienced individuals from Montana communities who can design, implement, evaluate health interventions, and provide technical assistance to other Montana communities.
These experts represent various stakeholders—communities, schools, elected officials, insurers, employers, health care providers, public health workers, Native American community leaders and nonprofit organizations throughout Montana who can support and strengthen local initiatives in need of assistance. RHI could assist communities in finding experts who can help them achieve local health and wellness goals.
- Provide targeted technical assistance to particularly rural and frontier communities and counties to help implement health interventions that correlate to the health problems identified by community assessments.
Many Montana communities have identified health problems and are ready to begin prevention and health improvement programs. RHI can assist these efforts by helping to identify Montanans willing to lend their expertise to help establish or improve prevention and wellness programs in other Montana communities. Targeted staff assistance could help community members plan, implement and evaluate local initiatives, and information would be shared via webinars, e-educational programs and referrals to similar community projects.
- Assist communities in applying quality improvement frameworks, such as a community health scorecard, to ensure that the interventions have an impact on health outcomes.
Community members could receive training on how to collect and analyze health data to apply evidence-based interventions to target specific health problems. A community health quality improvement (QI) network could be supported and modeled after the successful Critical Access Hospital QI network.
- Provide links to evidence-based best practices in prevention and community-based wellness programs.
There are a number of excellent state and national resources available to support local efforts from the Montana Nutrition and Physical Activity Program (NAPA) to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention websites. RHI will link Montanans to the best information available to support their community initiatives.
Click here for the powerpoint slides for the RHI Presentation!
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