Austin Cross

The strategic action plan focuses on improving the health status of Johnston County residents, preventing premature deaths, and ensuring a coordinated response to public health events. Key priorities include reducing teen pregnancy, increasing prenatal care, decreasing low birth weight and obesity rates, and reducing deaths from diabetes, breast cancer, and heart disease. The plan also addresses environmental health and safety, workforce competence, and public awareness of health programs, with an emphasis on serving the growing Hispanic population and uninsured residents.

The 2022-2024 Strategic Action Plan for the Johnston County Public Health Department focuses on three priority areas identified through a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA): Access to Care, Substance Use Disorders, and Transportation. The plan aims to improve the health status of Johnston County residents by addressing issues such as limited access to primary care, high rates of preventable hospital stays, substance misuse, and transportation barriers to healthcare and nutrition assistance. Interventions include mentoring healthcare students, addressing primary care provider shortages, increasing Narcan distribution and Quitline referrals, offering smoking cessation classes, expanding access to WIC through Tele-WIC, and increasing the number of WIC satellite clinics. The plan utilizes data-driven evaluation methods to track progress and outcomes, aligning with Healthy Carolina 2020 objectives and addressing community needs.

The 2019-2021 Strategic Action Plan for the Johnston County Public Health Department focuses on improving the health status of Johnston County residents. The plan identifies five key priority areas based on the 2018 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA): Access to Health Services, Mental Health/Substance Abuse, Heart Disease & Stroke, Respiratory Disease, and Transportation. Interventions are designed to address these priorities through initiatives such as expanding access to healthcare providers, addressing opioid abuse through Operation Medicine Drop events, promoting healthy eating habits, offering smoking cessation programs, and increasing access to WIC services. The plan utilizes data from the CHNA, Healthy North Carolina 2020 objectives, and community input to guide its strategies and measure outcomes.

The Johnston County Public Health Department's 2015-2019 Strategic Action Plan focuses on improving the health status of Johnston County residents. Key priorities, identified through community health assessments and data analysis, include increasing access to healthcare (addressing affordability, transportation, and provider availability), combating obesity and overweight issues, and promoting healthy nutrition and physical activity. The plan targets health disparities among low-income, uninsured, and minority populations. Interventions include promoting walking campaigns, increasing participation in school health programs, expanding access to healthy foods through school gardens, and improving health literacy. The plan emphasizes collaboration with community partners and utilizes data-driven evaluation methods to measure progress toward achieving these goals.