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Central Oklahoma Turning Point
Central Oklahoma Turning Point, a community initiative, is being launched by a group of community leaders to examine the health problems in Central Oklahoma, prioritize them and create an action plan to address the issues.
You can check out their website by clicking here.
The process is designed to let the citizens decide what health issues are the most critical to them and develop the strategies to improve the health status of Oklahoma.
The effort is a joint collaboration by:
- United Way of Central Oklahoma
- City-County Health Department
- The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce
- Faith organizations
- Schools
- Businesses
- Area hospitals
- City and state elected official
In the past, health improvement initiatives in Oklahoma have not seen great success because they've been focused on a single disease or issue and have been driven by a single organization or agency. True reform will only be possible through an extensive collaboration where all citizens are working hand in hand to create a better health culture.
Oklahoma has some of the finest healthcare facilities in the nation and many different programs to prevent or treat illness and disease. And yet, we continue to fall below the mark. Working together, we believe we can turn around Oklahoma's bad health.
The Turning Point initiative will be an on-going process. The beginning stages have been underway since the fall of 2002, with initial planning and organization of a steering committee. Currently, stakeholders are being recruited to ensure that all citizens in Central Oklahoma are represented in the process. These stakeholders will meet twice a month for approximately nine months beginning on September 9, 2003.
Objectives:
- Identify, agree on and promote community health priorities;
- Link and enhance existing programs, partnerships, and initiatives as needed to address these priorities;
- Establish mechanisms to measure progress on health priorities;
- Generate new programs, partnerships, and initiatives as needed to address these priorities;
- Establish an ongoing process/structure for community health governance.
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