HCCLS NEWS RELEASE
The Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey will hold its monthly public meeting on Thursday, April 11, at 9 a.m. at the Silver Springs Community Center at 2945 Fort Churchill Road.
This month’s meeting will focus on increasing access to health care in the Lyon and Storey regions through multi-sector collaboration, health care provider recruitment and retention, and school-based health centers. The meeting will include presentations by several experts, as well as opportunities to add input to a developing plan for a school-based health center.
Pam Beal, a recipient of numerous awards in health care access, will discuss school-based health centers. She has implemented five comprehensive school based health centers, as well as mobile and rural Women, Infant and Children (WIC) clinics. She has secured over $8 million for community health programs over the last decade.
Those attending the coalition meeting will also have a chance to provide input on the topic of a possible community-based health center within the Lyon School District.
In February 2013, Healthy Communities Coalition was awarded a planning grant through the Nevada State Health Division to work with key groups on a feasibility plan for a school-based health center. A leadership team including Superintendent Keith Savage, Deputy Superintendent Wayne Workman, Silver Stage High principal Patrick Peters, Rural Nevada Counseling, Nevada Rural Mental Health, Lyon Human Services Director, Healthy Communities Coalition, Hometown Health Director Mathew Ladic, Silver Springs/Stagecoach Hospital District, Carson City Health and Human Services, Community Chest, and evaluation teams from Turning Point Inc and Social Entrepreneur Inc, have been making presentations and seeking input throughout Lyon and Storey communities about the possibilities for a community-based health center.
The team is gathering input from Lyon and Storey County Board of Commissioners, Silver Springs-Stagecoach Hospital District, Lyon School District, school booster clubs, area chambers of commerce, youth leadership clubs, food pantry volunteers, Carson Areas Wellness Association, South Lyon Medical Center, City of Fernley, Lyon and Storey Senior Centers, fire departments in Lyon County, State Rural Mental Health, Rural Nevada Counseling, Community Chest, multiple Healthy Communities Coalition public meetings, etc.
Lyon County Project to recruit and retain health care providers
Staff from Social Entrepreneurs Inc. and Nevada State Health Division (NSHD) will describe related new projects in Lyon County to recruit and retain health care providers and to expand collaborative networks for this purpose. Sarah Boxx of Social Entrepreneurs Inc. (SEI) and Emily Brown, Accreditation Coordinator for NSHD will describe the process for an assessment/pilot program on health care provider recruitment and retention for rurals that SEI has been hired by the NSHD to conduct in Douglas and Lyon Counties.
Boxx and Brown will also describe Partner.net, a tool used to analyze, record, and track networks to enhance collaboration that would be helpful for the region with regard to developing a school based health center, and to increasing health care provider retention.
The coalition’s monthly public meetings include discussion and collaborative, multi-sector strategic planning on issues of regional importance that impact residents’ quality of life. Meetings typically include updates from Coalition members and partners- individual volunteers plus local, state, federal and tribal group partners. Meetings also include staff updates on legislation and public policy; Stand Tall youth leaders’ work; arts events in public spaces; and the region’s developing healthy food hub which includes many school and community gardens and farmers markets, Silver Stage Food Co-Op, volunteer-powered food pantries, agriculture-related student and adult micro-businesses, and teen garden internships; etc. For more information about the Coalition meeting, please contact Quest Lakes at 287-7598.
