End-of-Year Garrett County Health Planning Council Update

By Diane Lee, Public Information Officer, Garrett County Health Department

The Garrett County Health Planning Council met on November 30, 2023, at the Garrett County Health Department for a joint November/December end-of-year meeting to discuss the implementation of population-based chronic disease prevention programs, an overview of physical activity as an indicator of public health in Garrett County (identified by local stakeholders via the 2022-2024 Garrett County and Surrounding Area Community Health Assessment), and additional health topics related to grant development and agency updates.

Edgar Harman, Elected Chairman, began the meeting with an introduction of the Health Planning Council’s newest members: Marian Emr, Amy Jones, Donna McClintock Fost, Laura Robinson, and Thomas Vose.

After introductions, Shelley Argabrite, Health Strategist for Garrett County and Director of the Health Department’s Population Health, Innovation, and Informatics Unit, provided a comprehensive overview of population-based chronic disease prevention programs that have been operating in Garrett County for the past several years. The update included information on linkages between the grant development conducted by her unit and the community feedback received throughout the 2022-2024 Garrett County and Surrounding Areas Community Health Assessment process, population statistics related to physical activity as a public health indicator, the major competitive grant awarded to the unit from CareFirst that has been used to develop the GC In Motion programming catalog (including free park passes and community classes for Garrett County residents), additional developments on community infrastructure projects to improve access to physical activity opportunities for individuals with disabilities, programming statistics and utilization of GC In Motion programs, transparent public reporting of programmatic statistics on physical activity and other public health programs, community testimonials from the programs, and opportunities for partners to engage with community members through continued programming in 2024.

Following this overview, Chris Nichols, President of the Deep Creek Lake Lions Club, presented a summary of how the organization is utilizing the community infrastructure funds provided by the Health Department to improve access to opportunities for physical activity for individuals with disabilities at the Club’s public park, which is centrally located close to Garrett College.

Next, Sheri Kosh from Beach to Peak Yoga provided an update following the second year of her programming that was sponsored by GC In Motion’s local business reinvestment project. Sheri gave a passionate overview of the community reception of her services and detailed the planning journey she and Argabrite undertook to develop additional programming for 2023 that was rooted in sustaining the substantial impact the program developed in 2022.

Wrapping up the stories from 2023s population-based initiatives to improve physical activity opportunities across the county, Brooke McConnell and two participants from Community Action and Garrett CARC’s Senior Health and Fitness program talked about the funding provided to kickstart additional pickleball opportunities for participants in the highly popular program.

After the presentations, the public was invited to review the upcoming Physical Activity and Chronic Disease Prevention Data Insight from the Garrett County Health Department at https://bit.ly/physical-activity-data.

Switching topics, David Stewart from AHEC West provided an update on a grant currently being developed with multiple community partners to address health equity needs in Garrett and Allegany Counties. This joint effort began with Shelley Argabrite from the Health Department and Missy Clark from AHEC West identifying the need to work collaboratively to submit a joint agency proposal for this highly competitive funding opportunity. Partners were invited to reach out if they had an interest in participating in upcoming meetings.

Then, Garrett County Health Officer Bob Stephens provided information on the upcoming state/local Opioid Town Hall originally scheduled in December but later updated to January 22nd in McHenry. Attendees were invited to visit garretthealth.org to learn more and access resources for the upcoming event. Finally, Stephens presented information for the current State Health Improvement Plan survey circulating across Maryland and invited agencies to share this with their staff and program participants.

In closing, multiple agencies provided additional brief updates related to service offerings and community events. 

The next Garrett County Health Planning Council meeting is currently scheduled for January 25, 2024, at 8 a.m. at the Garrett County Health Department in Oakland. The meeting is available both in-person and virtually through Google Meets. Please see the Garrett County Health Department’s website at https://garretthealth.org/ for possible updates and changes to previously announced meetings.

For questions about the Garrett County Health Planning Council, please contact [email protected] or call the Garrett County Health Department at 301-334-7777.

Update submitted by John Corbin, Garrett County Health Department, Health Planning Council Guest

Cutline: Shelley Argabrite, Health Strategist for Garrett County provides a comprehensive overview of the Health Department’s population-based chronic disease prevention programs to attendees of the Garrett County Health Planning Council at the year-end meeting.