Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Lindsay Weaver and members of her staff visited Montgomery County Government Center on July 1 as part of her initiative in visiting all 92 counties in Indiana.
Weaver’s goal is to strengthen and foster the relationship between Indiana Department of Health and local health departments, discuss Health First Indiana and meet community partners.
Attending the meeting were several community partners that collaborate with the Montgomery County Health Department, county elected officials, an Indiana State Representative, Indiana Department of Health’s District 4 Administrator and the Montgomery County Health Department.
Weaver shared the health rankings of Montgomery County compared to other Indiana county rankings and state averages, along with the IDH’s key performance indicators for core public health services, developed along with the Health First Indiana funds.
Senate Enrolled Act 4, legislation passed by the 2023 General Assembly provides Health First funding to counties that opted-in in 2024, transforming public health through a state and local partnership to deliver services at the county level. Counties that opted-in to the funding can better determine the health needs and challenges of the community i.e. such as, collaborate with community partners, increase health department staff, expand, and implementation of evidence-based prevention programs.
Health First funding gives the MCHD as well as other county health departments the ability to ensure their communities have access to the core public health services to achieve needed optimal health and well-being.
Weaver said local people have always known what health needs and challenges are in their communities, but seldom have the funding to address it; HFI funding is in the process of changing this.
IDH continues to have conversations with hospitals and businesses on being a part of the solution regarding health outcomes in communities. Weaver stressed HFI funding is an economic initiative as well, i.e., healthier communities means healthier employees, which makes Montgomery County more attractive.
Dr. Scott Douglas, Montgomery County Health Officer, commented on the increased funding, recognizing we are able to grow specific programs and partnerships that are influencing our community.
Adrianne Northcutt, Montgomery County Health Department Administrator, discussed the ability to fund required trainings and continuing education to MCHD’s new employees. She also pointed out collaboration with several partners, expansion of services that MCHD already had in place, and the creation of new programs and services by MCHD. A few key performance indicators MCHD focused on with 2024 HFI funding included trauma and injury prevention, tobacco and vaping cessation, maternal and infant health and access and linkage to clinical care.
Additionally, Weaver addressed the continuation of the HFI funding from the state by stating, “The budget for Indiana is done every two years and will start in June of 2025. Health Departments are encouraged to share their success stories about how the funds are helping communities overcome health challenges. Indiana State Representative, Beau Baird stated, “Sharing positive health outcomes and supportive data is an important topic to me. Data gathering gives us benchmarks, with more benchmarks; we are able to justify funding.”
Information about Montgomery County’s health score card, county funding, and key performance indicators are on the Health First Indiana’s website at https://www.in.gov/healthfirstindiana/.
