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Health & Human Services Department | 389 Congress Street | Portland, Maine 04101 | (207) 874-8633

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Nestlé Prepared Foods Recalls Hot Pocket Brand Pepperoni Pizza  (8/21/2008)
Nestlé Prepared Foods Company, a Mt. Sterling, Ky., establishment,is recalling approximately 215,660 pounds of frozen stuffed pepperoni pizza sandwich products that may contain foreign materials, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced today. More

Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (Red Tide) Updated Advisory  (7/30/2008)
Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (Red Tide) Updated Advisory from Maine Center for Disease Control. More

Latest CDC Data Show More Americans Report Being Obese  (7/17/2008)
The proportion of U.S. adults who self-report they are obese increased nearly 2 percent between 2005 and 2007, according to a report in today′s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). More

Updated Web Pages Ready for Use  (6/30/2008)
A new web page on emergency preparedness, and updates to the 'Information for Providers Page' have recently been added to the Division website. More

County and Town Health Assessments Now Available  (6/27/2008)
Cumberland County/District Health Assessments for individual towns and the county are now available. More

Staying Safe in the Summer Heat  (6/9/2008)
With Maine heading into summer, it is important for all of us to prevent heat-related problems and to recognize the signs of heat illness early. More

Help us help you!  (6/3/2008)
Help the Public Health Division focus its efforts on the health problems in your community by participating in our Municipal Health Survey. More

As Summer Approaches, Watch Out For Rabies  (5/26/2008)
With the warm weather come questions and concerns about rabies. Rabies is a disease that affects the brain and spinal cord and is caused by a virus. It is almost always fatal. More

FoodBorne Illness UnderReported Nationwide  (4/7/2008)
For every one case of salmoneliosis (a common foodborne illness) reported, there are an estimated 38 that go unreported. More

Adults Lack Vaccination Awareness  (3/20/2008)
Despite the proven effectiveness of vaccines and their potential to save thousands of U.S. lives every year, American adults are receiving needed immunizations at alarmingly low rates. More

The Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Annual Report is now Available.  (2/19/2008)
The Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Annual Report for the Portland Public Health Division is now available for public viewing. More

cumberland district public health council

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	County Health Assessments
	Fundraising Committee
	Governance & Financing Committee
	Health Data Committee
	Healthy Cumberland County Committee
	Legislative Committee
	Map of Cumberland County
	Minutes
	Organizational Chart
	Past Agendas
	Public Health Overview
	Steering Committee
	Work Plans

RATIONALE
Home to more than 266,000 residents with a surge of another 750,000 tourists annually, Cumberland County is the most populous and widely traveled county in the state. While this allows the area to have relatively greater resources, it also ensures that disease outbreaks happen here first as well as socioeconomic and health status extremes.

Maine is one of very few states in the country without a sub-state public health infrastructure. This means that most Mainers go without local population-based health services, including pandemic influenza or other emergency planning. Such public health services are to:

• Monitor health status and understand health issues facing the community
• Protect people from health problems and health hazards
• Give people information they need to make healthy choices
• Engage the community to identify and solve problems
  Develop public health policies and plans
• Enforce public health laws and regulations
• Help people receive health services
• Maintain a competent public health workforce
• Evaluate and improve programs and interventions
• Contribute to and apply the evidence base of public health

In addition, the City of Portland has the state’s only full-fledged municipal health department, which further poises the County to expand upon this capacity for the benefit of the County’s entire population.

Cumberland County recently completed a major strategic planning effort which included a subcommittee focused on public health and human services, with the specific charge to determine whether a City-County-State pilot for public health was warranted. More than 20 leaders from diverse sectors across the County comprised the subcommittee, which met over a four-month period to develop its recommendations. The subcommittee chose unanimously to recommend that a pilot public health project for the entire County be implemented.

Locally, we are beginning a 6- to 8-month Maine Health Access Foundation-funded planning process to determine how best to address unmet health needs. In partnership with Maine Medical Center, Mercy Hospital, MaineHealth, Community Counseling and Community Dental, we will work through the application for a Federally Qualified Health Center to identify key issues and potential solutions, and make decisions about the best course of action.

On the State level, the Public Health Work Group will be reporting to the HHS Committee in the legislature on statewide public health infrastructure development with a Jan. 1 deadline. The group has recommended county- and multi-county based regions and Regional Coordinating Councils with specific public health functions. Our region is defined along Cumberland County lines.

The first step is for the Regional Coordinating Council to conduct a County-wide needs assessment in order to most effectively plan programs and services. The RCC must also study governance and financing options and make recommendations.

GOAL
To develop an efficient and effective public health system serving all of Cumberland County to assure the conditions by which people can be healthy, with a sustainable and diverse funding structure.

YEAR ONE GOALS

• Assess public health needs throughout the County and prepare report
• Evaluate staffing and service provision models to meet these needs and recommend best option
• Determine funding needs and potential streams and recommend best option
• Evaluate applicable governance models and recommend best option
• Involve and ensure buy-in from town/city managers and MCDC leadership

PROCESS

• Secure Year One funding via Fundraising Committee
• Develop and issue RFPs for consulting services for: (1) process facilitation with City, County, State personnel and town/city managers, and (2) county-wide public health needs assessment by town/city, and (3) governance and financing study
• Implement process to educate, gain input and buy-in from local, county and state personnel including potential governance and financing structures, and issue report with full-scale implementation recommendations and financing
• Implement process to conduct county-wide public health needs assessment and issue report highlighting each town/city’s most pressing health issues
• Implement process to evaluate potential governance and financing structures and report on best options
• Develop Year Two plan

DELIVERABLES

• Report from local, county and state personnel and town/city managers with recommendations on implementation and financing
• Report on most pressing health issues by town/city
• Report on recommendations for governance and funding structures
• Year Two Plan

Fundraising
Chair: Bill Whitten
Work with local partners and other funding sources to leverage needed resources to conduct analyses, develop recommendations, and ensure consensus decisions; monitor budget and spending.

Governance & Financing
Chair: Elizabeth Trice
Study relevant city-county and county health department models, specifically regarding to whom they report and how they are financed. Recommend optimal reporting and financing structures to the larger group for approval.

Healthy Cumberland County
Chair: Kaki Dimock
Coordinate Comprehensive Community Health Coalitions in the county to develop, implement and monitor the RFP due in June.

Click here for the Cumberland County, Healthy Maine Partnership Public Health Region Map.

Health Data
Chair: Toho Soma
Collect all health status data available at the town and county levels; identify data to be collected; develop and recommend priority areas for short-, medium- and long-term program and policy development.

Legislative
Chair: Deb Deatrick
Work with legislators and State staff to develop, implement and monitor the activities detailed in the resolve. Following the public health statute review, develop and implement strategy to change existing statute(s) as indicated.

Steering Committee
Chair: Julie Sullivan
Develop and implement strategy for Council. Oversee workplans for Coordinating Council and its Committees. Monitor fundraising and budget(s). Forum for interaction between Committee Chairs and reviewing recommendations before they are presented to the full Council.

Click here for 'Municipal Public Health Survey'

Click here for 'Cumberland County Municipal Public Health Inventory Interim Narrative Report'

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