State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP)

The 2013-2017 State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) has been finalized, and implementation will begin soon.

Implementation teams for each of the six priorities will be recruited in the next two months. Partners who were identified in the planning process will receive an invitation to join the implementation teams, but we are also welcoming other interested parties.

The six priorities in the 2013-2017 SHIP are:

• Immunization 
• Obesity 
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
• Tobacco Use 
• Educate, Inform and Empower the Public 
• Mobilize Community Partnerships 

The implementation teams will be asked to focus on one or more of the objectives, and strategies in the plan, and may choose to work on all or part of those strategies.

Team members will help develop a work plan, identify commitments that they or their organization can make towards implementation, and then meet quarterly to provide progress updates and suggest new partnerships and or revisions to the work plan.

The plan can be found at: http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/ship/index.shtml. If you are interested in participating in an implementation team, please contact Nancy Birkhimer at nancy.birkhimer@maine.govor 287-5716.

Public health accreditation update

Maine CDC continues to prepare for national accreditation by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), and is on track to submit an application in January 2014.

About 25 employees representing all of Maine CDC’s Divisions currently participate in teams dedicated to each of the 12 accreditation domains. These teams are tasked to review the accreditation guidance and select the documents that best demonstrate that Maine CDC meets the accreditation standards.

Additionally, there are several large accreditation-related projects currently underway, including the State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) and the enhanced Performance Management System.

Maine CDC thanks the many public health partners who participated in developing the objectives and strategies for the SHIP. As Maine CDC gets closer to accreditation, we will continue to provide short updates here in every other issue. To learn more about the Public Health Accreditation program, visit http://www.phaboard.org, or contact Maine CDC’s Accreditation Coordinator, Kate Marone, at kate.marone@maine.gov