DELAWARE STATE HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PLAN: COMMENTS INVITED

DOVER (June 19, 2014) - Public comments will be accepted until June 30 on the Division of Public Health's (DPH) first State Health Improvement Plan. Comments are accepted from health providers and agencies, as well as members of the general public.

DPH collaborated with non-profit organizations and medical providers to create a draft statewide health assessment. The assessment was then used to develop the improvement plan's goals.

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."

Visit www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/ and scroll down to the "How Do I" Section. For questions, please call 302-744-4703.

A person who is deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind, or speech-disabled can call the DPH phone number above by using TTY services. Dial 7-1-1 or 800-232-5460 to type your conversation to a relay operator, who reads your conversation to a hearing person at DPH. The relay operator types the hearing person's spoken words back to the TTY user. To learn more about TTY availability in Delaware, visit delawarerelay.com

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.