About Us

This document serves as the Community Health Needs Assessment, Implementation Strategy, Community Health Improvement Plan, and Community Service Plan (hereinafter, collectively known as “the Plan”) for Columbia and Greene Counties for the six-year period beginning 2025 and ending in 2030.  As such, it identifies the Priorities from the 2025-2030 Prevention Agenda that will be the focus of collaborative community health improvement activities in these counties during this period.  These are as follows:

• Priority Area #1: Nutrition Security

Goal: Increase access to affordable, nutritious food and reduce food insecurity.

• Priority Area #2: Tobacco & E-cigarette Use 

Goal: Prevent initiation and support cessation to reduce tobacco-related illness.

•  Priority Area #3: Suicide Prevention

Goal: Improve mental health, reduce suicide risk, and strengthen community support systems.

With regard to addressing disparities, this Plan will focus on two special populations: residents experiencing economic insecurity, whose limited resources undermine their food security, and non-Hispanic Blacks, who have a higher rate of visits to the Emergency Department for self-harm than residents from other racial/ethnic groups.

Data Reviewed to Identify Priorities

The selection of priorities was informed by a review of data extracted from the Community Health Needs Assessment for the Capital Region that had been prepared by the public health organization, Healthy Capital District (HCD). HCD staff shared data on a total of 25 health issues that had been derived from a variety of public use data sets. This data included information on the number of people impacted (count), the proportion of people impacted in comparison to other geographies (rate), any trends that could be detected in prevalence, any difference among sub-populations that may exist (disparity), and the relative seriousness of the issue.

Partners and Roles; Engagement of Broad Community

The Columbia County Department of Health, the Greene County Public Health Department, and Columbia Memorial Hospital, collectively known as the Columbia-Greene Planning Partners, worked collaboratively throughout the assessment and planning process and are committed to working jointly, both across agencies and county lines, throughout the implementation phase as well.

The Columbia-Greene Planning Partners were assisted in the assessment and planning phase by a diverse stakeholder group that was convened in May 2025 to review data from the Community Health Needs Assessment and inform the selection of community health priorities (see a full list in Appendix A).  This broad stakeholder group, referred to as the Columbia-Greene Healthy People Partnership, will continue to have a role throughout the implementation process. The Partnership will be charged with reviewing reports, monitoring progress, and providing feedback.

Evidence-Based Interventions – Identification and Selection

The selection of priorities, interventions and activities was made by the Planning Partners, who frequently referenced and were strongly influenced by the discussions that occurred in the Columbia-Greene Healthy People Partnership meetings. Additional consideration was given to the community’s existing assets and resources, including programs and services that may already be delivered, gaps in the availability of or access to programs and services, and whether health disparities or inequities exist. Whenever possible, evidence-based interventions were selected directly from those offered in the Prevention Agenda.

With regard to Priority Area #1: Nutrition Security, the Planning Partners selected the following interventions:

• Conduct standardized screening of unmet Nutrition Security needs and provide referrals to state, local, and federal benefit programs and community-based, health-related social needs providers to address unmet needs
• Inventory and promote access points to get affordable, high quality, nutritious food, including expanding and promoting the availability of food vouchers and other opportunities for using entitlement dollars for food purchases
• Implement nutrition standards and food service guidelines for meals and snacks served in facilities, worksites and institutions
• Implement periodic community needs assessments to prioritize the development of nutrition programs in high-risk areas
• Convene and lead individuals and organizations that are working to address hunger and food insecurity in a collaborative learning and work effort

With regard to Priority Area #2: Tobacco & E-cigarette Use, the Planning Partners selected the following interventions:

• Provide access to tobacco cessation treatments, including individuals, group, telephone counseling, and food and drug admin approved cessation medications
• Implement screening for tobacco use and navigate to appropriate services in all health care practice settings
• Advance community-wide support for restricting minors access to tobacco products
• Educate residents on the harms of tobacco and the benefits of tobacco-free treatment

With regard to Priority Area #3: Suicide Prevention, the Planning Partners selected the following interventions:

• Provide training for community members, organizations and other groups to identify and respond to people who may be at risk of suicide-on-suicide prevention
• Promote calling or texting 988 through social media, digital marketing campaigns, and other utilized marketing strategies
• Improve availability and access to culturally relevant information on suicide prevention and community resources, especially in underserved and historically marginalized communities
• Promote and conduct comprehensive suicide prevention training for staff

Greater detail about these intervention strategies, including related objectives and process measures, are provided below in the Work Plan Template, found as Appendix B.

Progress and Improvement Tracking, with Process Measures

Throughout the implementation period, it will be essential for the Columbia-Greene Planning Partners to monitor progress, to identify improvements made as a result of the interventions or a lack of improvements, which might suggest the need to adjust the approach and/or activities.

With regard to Priority Area #1: Nutrition Security, the Planning Partners selected the following measures:

With regard to Priority Area #2: Tobacco & E-cigarette Use, the Planning Partners selected the following interventions:

• RE: providing access to tobacco cessation treatments: # of referrals made to cessation treatment; # of people served by cessation treatments
• RE: the implementation of screening for tobacco use in health care practice settings: Participation among organizations of focus; # of people screened; number of successful referrals made
• RE: advancing community-wide support for restricting minors access to tobacco products: Participation rates among CBOs, schools, retailers, and other organizations of focus; degree of accessibility of tobacco products (# of purchase locations; # of visible advertisements, especially near congregation sites for youth)
• RE: educating residents on the harms of tobacco and the benefits of tobacco-free treatment: # of outreach events and attendance, # of flyers distributed, # of QR code scans and website visits

With regard to Priority Area #3: Suicide Prevention, the Planning Partners selected the following interventions:

• RE: providing training for community members, organizations and other groups: # of trainings provided; # of people trained
• RE: the promotion of 988 through social media and marketing strategies: Data on reach of promotion strategy (e.g. # of views; # of website visits; source of website visits, etc.)
• RE: improving availability and access to culturally relevant information on suicide prevention: Participation among CBOs in promotion activities, manner of promotion activities and data on reach (# of outreach events, # of attendees, # of flyers distributed, # of website clicks, etc.)
• RE: promoting and conducting comprehensive suicide prevention training for staff: Participation among health care organizations; # of trainings delivered; # of staff trained; capacity of staff to implement skills gained from training

Greater detail about these intervention strategies, including related objectives and process measures, are provided below in the Work Plan Template, found in Appendix B.