Broome County Health Department

To help foster statewide implementation of prevention activities, the New York State Department of Health issued the Prevention Agenda 2013–17 to address disease prevention and reduce health disparities.

All 58 local health departments were required to submit a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) to the State outlining their strategies to advance the Prevention Agenda. To help energize the implementation of these CHIPs, the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) awarded grants to health departments with the most innovative and feasible projects to improve the health and wellbeing of their communities through the Advancing New York State’s Prevention Agenda: A Matching Funds Program to Implement Community Health Improvement Plans initiative. The Prevention Agenda offered NYHealth a timely opportunity to build upon its work in diabetes prevention by helping support initiatives that tackle the root causes of diabetes and other chronic conditions, such as obesity and smoking. NYHealth awarded the Broome County Health Department (BCHD) a grant to participate in this initiative.

BCHD used funds to focus on the Prevention Agenda priority area of promoting a healthy and safe environment. It worked toward the specific goal of decreasing falls, fall-related hospital admissions, and deaths as a result of falls among adults 65 years of age and older. To achieve this goal, BCHD adopted a fall-risk assessment and referral protocol in primary care sites; integrated fall prevention components in home health physical therapy programs; and helped community-based organizations promote and expand evidence-based fall prevention programs to reach older adults in all areas of Broome County.

See a full list of recipients.