Ogle county's closing the GAP with social determinants of health accelerator plan - the ogle county health department (ochd) is applying for the "closing the GAP with social determinants of health…

Ogle county's closing the GAP with social determinants of health accelerator plan - the ogle county health department (ochd) is applying for the "closing the GAP with social determinants of health accelerator plan" funding from the centers for disease control and prevention to address higher burden of chronic disease in LEE, ogle, and whiteside counties in rural northern illinois. Ochd plans to partner with project open, an experienced coalition of healthcare, public health, law enforcement, business, behavioral health and other services agencies located in the three counties. This opportunity offers $125,000 to complete a plan to address chronic disease targeting two or more social determinates of health strategies (built environmental, community-clinical linkages, food and nutrition security, social connectedness and tobacco-free policy). The local collation plans to address built environmental and food and nutrition security as the primary domains for the planning process. All three counties within the catchment area have higher rates of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer than state and national averages. This catchment area also reports a high percentage of poor or fair health days compared to the state and national average. Being rural areas the three counties have limited access to recreational resources especially in the more remote areas. These same areas have issues with access to healthy nutrient dense foods. Several towns in these counties require residents to travel more than ten miles to reach the closes grocery store. The partners associated with this project will look at health disparities and ways to reduce inequities that drive risk factors the impact chronic disease. The ogle county health department intend to work with project open, a preexisting local coalition, to further evaluate issues related to chronic disease. The health department and the coalition will work to find root causes, strengthen partnerships, understand policy improvements, assess built environments, and ultimately create a plan that will address poor chronic disease outcomes.