Thank you for joining us in a look back at 2022 for the North Carolina Institute for Public Health (NCIPH).
Last year, the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health reiterated its commitment to public health practice with the development of a first strategic plan for practice and the appointment of a new Associate Dean for Practice, John Wiesman, DrPH, MPH. Wiesman is also serving as NCIPH’s interim director during the NCIPH’s search for a permanent director. In the strategic plan for practice, NCIPH is named as an integral piece of the strategy for putting public health into action at Gillings, in North Carolina and beyond.
COVID Impact Survey Initiatives
The COVID-19 Impact Survey in Durham was a pilot project led by Shaw University in collaboration with the Community Health Coalition, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and NCIPH. The overall goal of the project was to understand the social, economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Durham County residents, and the extent to which impacts differed by race, ethnicity and disability.
This collaboration is the pilot of a larger initiative to build capacity for health research at historically minority-serving institutions across the state. In 2023, this pilot project is being scaled up across other North Carolina Medicaid Regions to form the HBCU Health Equity Data Consortium, led by North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. NCIPH is serving as a technical advisor to the consortium, with the expertise of a team from the Institute’s Community Assessment and Strategy unit, led by John Wallace, PhD, MSPH, and Adrienne Hall, MPH.
Supporting ARPA-Funded Workforce Development Initiative for North Carolina State and Local Public Health
In 2022, NCIPH also partnered with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Public Health to support the rollout of the state’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Public Health Workforce Development Initiative. The initiative aims to strengthen North Carolina’s public health workforce at both the state and local levels through targeted hiring, training and other supports.
Since late 2021, NCIPH has been providing consultation and technical assistance to the Division of Public Health and 10 regional ARPA leaders, each of whom is coordinating ARPA-funded activities for a multi-county region of local health departments.
The Institute also received funding to revamp and redesign some of its existing programs, including pivoting a key leadership program to a year-long program focused on equity and converting an introductory course for new public health nurses into the new North Carolina Credentialed Public Health Nursing Course, for which a pilot will launch in spring 2023. NCIPH also worked with guest speakers and partners to offer sessions on racial equity and the effect of North Carolina’s changing demographics on the public health workforce and to support organizational development through leadership coaching and training.
In addition, a statewide gap analysis to assess how North Carolina’s workforce can better meet the Foundational Public Health Capabilities is nearing completion and will be shared with regional ARPA leaders in early 2023.
NCIPH will continue to work with state and local partners throughout the remainder of the initiative, developing and offering a number of new programs, including a webinar and in-person training in crisis communications and a new collection of e-learns for public health staff at the state and local level that will provide instruction on topics such as HIPAA and ethics in public health.
Task Force on the Future of Local Public Health in North Carolina
Amy Belflower Thomas, MHA, MSPH, CPH, director of community assessment and strategy at NCIPH, and John Wiesman, interim director at NCIPH and associate dean for practice at UNC Gillings both served as members on the Task Force on the Future of Local Public Health in North Carolina from August 2021 to May 2022. The North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM), with funding from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, convened the task force to develop a vision and path for achieving a strong future for local public health. The effort was in part co-chaired by Leah McCall Devlin, DDS, professor of the practice at UNC Gillings and frequent NCIPH collaborator Lisa Macon Harrison, MPH, health director, Granville-Vance Public Health.
The Task Force acknowledged the broad spectrum of public health sectors, including academia, that would be required to strengthen local public health. As such, UNC Gillings and NCIPH specifically are noted as responsible parties in many recommendations, including:
- Recommendation 1: Evolve local public health’s role as Chief Health Strategist by implementing a collective impact framework to address community health priorities (NCIPH).
- Recommendation 3: Strengthen capabilities and build trust to communicate effectively with diverse community members, media, and policymakers (UNC Gillings).
- Recommendation 4: Bolster local public health’s capacity to promote community health and well-being by sustaining and supporting the current workforce (NCIPH).
- Recommendation 5: Build local public health’s future capacity to serve the community by growing a diverse and skilled workforce (UNC Gillings).
- Recommendation 6: Pursue innovative strategies to address broader population health and meet the organizational, funding, and workforce challenges that local governmental public health currently faces (NCIPH).
Further and more detailed information can be found in the full report for the task force, Foundations of Health and Opportunity: Investing in the Future of Local Public Health in North Carolina.
37th North Carolina School Nurse Conference
The in-person return of the Annual North Carolina School Nurse Conference was a resounding success, with the highest ever number of attendees. The 37th annual conference had 664 participants check in at the event and 37 registered exhibitors this year. The theme for 2022 was “School Health: A Time to Reflect, Celebrate and Refocus.” Participants attended four full group sessions (one keynote and three plenary) and could choose between 17 different breakout sessions.
Partnership with N.C. Department of Instruction’s Healthy Schools Section
For a second year, NCIPH partnered with the North Carolina Department of Instruction’s Healthy Schools Section to support their work with K-12 schools. In particular, staff from the NCIPH Training unit partnered with mental health and organizational development experts to deliver a series of workshops to support staff resiliency and well-being in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
NCIPH is proud to work with so many partners on strengthening public health across the state and we’re excited to build on those efforts coming into 2023.
