As our region of western North Carolina fights against COVID-19, WNC Health Network is donating our skills and expertise around data, convening, and facilitation to supporting regional pandemic response strategy conversations, bringing together public health communicators, as well as supporting ongoing regional conversations around food insecurity and food systems.
To learn more about what is happening in local communities around our region, like and follow WNC Health Network and WNC health departments and hospitals on Facebook – click here for direct links.
Our team has love and pride for our region and all of its people, and we feel confident that Western North Carolina’s long history of innovation and collaboration will help see us through this time – together.
Please contact us if you have additional ideas for ways we can support your efforts.
Virtual Services & Support for Community Health Improvement
In these unprecedented times, many of us may be feeling overwhelmed or at a loss for how—or even IF—we can continue to move our community health improvement work forward. It can feel daunting to determine how to maintain momentum with community coalitions, grantees, and partners in this new all-virtual world. Here are some tips and resources to support you and your community health improvement partners to adapt and continue your work in the midst of uncertainty and flux.
Tools to Support Strategy Work
This deceptively simple “Crisis Triage Tool” from the Center for Community Investment has been a useful way for coalitions, agencies, or action teams to “take stock” of strategies and how the current crisis will impact strategic direction. Links to the blank template, instructions for completing this with your team, and a sample, completed tool are included at the end of the article: https://centerforcommunityinvestment.org/blog/reimagining-strategy-context-covid-19-crisis-triage-tool
Tools to Facilitate Virtual Collaborative Work
It is possible to design and lead effective, engaging, and meaningful virtual meetings that can help move your collective work forward – it just takes a bit more planning and elbow grease to make it happen. We recommend reading this article from Digital Visual Facilitation with tips for translating your in-person meeting to a virtual setting, as a starting point.
At WNC Health Network, we are adapting our collaborative work and support to continue to be available, effective and meaningful at-a-distance. From leading virtual collaborative processes, to co-developing and implementing at-a-distance local data collection methodologies, to developing engaging, online Results-Based Accountability™ (RBA) training and coaching, to supporting access to our regional health data and providing strategic support for health communications efforts, we are committed to continuing to contribute to the important work that carries on in the midst of these unprecedented times.
If you would like to learn more about how we can support your community health work, contact us.