New Releases
NCLHD Accreditation Staff Updates
Welcome Margaret Benson Nemitz
Margaret recently joined the North Carolina Institute for Public Health (NCIPH) as a Community Assessment Coordinator. In this role she will be providing project support to the NCLHD Accreditation Program in addition to working on a variety of other projects at NCIPH.
Margaret comes to NCIPH after completing her master’s in public health degree in Health Behavior at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She is passionate about building community decision-making power in public health initiatives, with an interest in and commitment to health equity, community engagement, and health communication. Prior to joining the UNC family, Margaret worked in population health at a local public health department in Virginia, where she managed a volunteer program, coordinated chronic condition prevention efforts, assisted with Community Health Assessment development, and participated in strategic planning. She has since contributed to CHA processes in three local health departments in Virginia and North Carolina. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband and two pups. Welcome Margaret!
New Endeavors for Lydie Costes
We are excited to share that Lydie will be starting graduate school at Duke University this fall, studying Forestry and Environmental Management with a focus in Ecosystem Science and Conservation. She will be departing her full-time Administrative Specialist position at NCIPH but will continue on in a part-time capacity supporting the NCLHD Accreditation program. She is glad for the opportunity to continue working with you all as she begins this exciting new chapter. But be warned that she may not be checking her email quite as often! So, please email us NCLHDaccreditation@unc.edu so the entire team can monitor email requests. Congratulations Lydie!
2020 Webinar Series
The NCLHD Accreditation Program is offering a free monthly webinar series through June 2021. The next webinar, Your Superhero Utility Belt, will be held August 20 from 10—11:30 a.m. This webinar will focus on the Driving the Future: Assessment of the North Carolina Local Public Health Workforce report and how it can be used to inform training policies and plans. Register here.
The recording of the July 16 webinar, Understanding your Community’s Superpowers, is posted on our website.
Save the date for the September 24, 10—11:30 a.m. webinar, Superhero’s: Inspiring Others. This webinar will focus on how to engage all staff in the accreditation process. Registration will open soon.
Information about upcoming webinars will be posted on the Webinar Series page of our website.
Center for Cultural Competency – Resources for Self-Assessments
Following the July 16 webinar, Understanding Your Community’s Superpowers, one of the presenters, Kweli Rashied-Henry from Durham County, shared a link to self-assessments that agencies can use to inform on-going quality improvement around cultural competency: National Center for Cultural Competence at Georgetown, Self-Assessments: https://nccc.georgetown.edu/assessments/.
Accreditation in Action
LAST CHANCE – NCLHD Accreditation Annual Survey – closes August 6, 2020
Now is your last chance to respond to the 2020 NCLHD Accreditation Annual Survey! The purpose of the survey is to learn:
- local health departments’ experience with accreditation
- ways that the NCLHDA program can continue to add value to the accreditation process
All health departments are asked to complete this survey regardless of whether or not your agency has been accredited during the previous year. We ask that any staff who are directly involved with the local health department accreditation process (Health Director, Agency Accreditation Coordinators, and others with Accreditation responsibilities) to complete the survey to ensure that a variety of perspectives are represented.
The survey is open now through August 6, 2020.
New Agency Accreditation Coordinator Training September 15, 2020: Registration Closes September 8
The New AAC Training will be held on September 15 from 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. The New AAC Training provides a basic overview of the accreditation process and the role of the AAC. The training is for new AACs, co-AACs and back-up AACs. The training is offered bi-annually, each spring and fall. Due to COVID-19 the spring 2020 training will be held on-line with no registration fee (the registration fee typically covers the cost of the facility and lunch). Registration is limited to 25 people. A waitlist will be created, if needed. Registration will close at 5 p.m. on September 8, 2020. Register here.
NCLHD Accreditation Dashboard – Tips and Tricks: Document Management Sort by Group
Org Admin Users can now sort by Group on the Document Management Page in the NCLHD Accreditation Dashboard. Once on the Document Management Page, click the down arrow next to Group at the top of the screen. You will see a drop-down list of your agency’s Groups. Select the Group which the document has been associated with. Click with red x to see all the documents that have been uploaded into the dashboard.
COVID-19 Response and the NCLHD Accreditation HDSAI: A Guide for Potential Evidence
The COVID-19 Response Guide is posted on our website. As reminder, if you have any examples of how you are using your agency’s COVID-19 response, please email us at NCLHDaccreditation@unc.edu so that we can add it to the Guide. We have not yet received any examples, so the Guide has not been updated since it was published.
Key Dates
Your Superhero Utility Belt – August 20, 2020, 10 – 11:30 a.m. Webinar. Public health professionals have a variety of problem solving and detective tools at their disposal. This webinar will focus on one specific resource, the Driving the Future: Assessment of the North Carolina Local Public Health Workforce report. Participants will learn how to use the Driving the Future report to inform their training policies and plans. Registration here.
New Agency Accreditation Training – September 15, 2020 8:30 a.m. -2 p.m. Webinar. The New AAC training provides a basic overview of the accreditation process and the role of the AAC. The training is for new AACs, co-AACs and back-up AACs. Register here.
Superheroes: Inspiring Others -September 24, 10—11:30 a.m. Webinar. Learn strategies for engaging all staff in the accreditation process. Registration will open soon.
Tips and Tricks for Accreditation Success: Stories From the Field
Share your tips and tricks for accreditation success with other local health departments across the state. If you have a tip or trick that you would like to share, send a summary- no more than 500 words- including the activity addressed and any lessons learned. Please send your submission to NCLHDaccreditation@unc.edu. Stories will be shared via these monthly highlights.