DELAWARE STATE HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PLAN: COMMENTS INVITED

DOVER (June 9, 2014) - The Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) wants your input on Delaware's first State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP). DPH recently worked with a broad spectrum of non-profit and medical provider partners to create a draft statewide health assessment. The assessment was then used to develop an improvement plan - goals for our most important health needs.

The process led to two priority goals:

• To assure an infrastructure necessary to increase the adoption of healthy eating and active living; and
• To improve access to mental health and substance abuse services and supports to include prevention, early intervention, and treatment for all Delawareans.

Efforts now will be devoted to building a work plan to address these two goals.

"The community members that worked on the State Health Improvement Plan should be congratulated for developing important goals that if implemented will significantly improve the health of Delawareans," said Dr. Karyl Rattay, DPH director. "Now we need to make sure that progress is made toward implementing those goals."

We invite comments on the SHIP through June 30, 2014. Comments can be provided by health providers and agencies, as well as the interested public. Visit www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/ and scroll down to the "How Do I" Section. For questions, please call 302-744-4703.

Individuals seeking TTY services should call 7-1-1 or 800-232-5460. A person who is deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind, or speech-disabled can use a TTY to type his/her conversation to a relay operator, who then reads the typed conversation to a hearing person at the DPH call center. The relay operator relays the hearing person's spoken words by typing them back to the TTY user. To learn more about TTY availability in Delaware, visit delawarerelay.com.

Delaware Health and Social Services is committed to improving the quality of the lives of Delaware's citizens by promoting health and well-being, fostering self-sufficiency, and protecting vulnerable populations. DPH, a division of DHSS, urges Delawareans to make healthier choices with the 5-2-1 Almost None campaign: eat 5 or more fruits and vegetables each day, have no more than 2 hours of recreational screen time each day (includes TV, computer, gaming), get 1 or more hours of physical activity each day, drink almost no sugary beverages.

Delaware Health and Social Services is committed to improving the quality of the lives of Delaware's citizens by promoting health and well-being, fostering self-sufficiency, and protecting vulnerable populations.