New Releases 
Honoring John Rouse
We entered this week with heavy hearts in hearing about the loss of a dear colleague, friend, and leader in the accreditation community, John Rouse, Jr. John has been involved with accreditation since the very early days, serving as the Health Director in Harnett County for 20 years, before which he also served as Health Director in Duplin and Sampson Counties. He was as a loyal member to the NCLHDA Board, where he chaired the Standards and Evidence Committee and was a member of the Standards Workgroup. His perspective has been instrumental in the current efforts to transform accreditation requirements, and we know our accreditation community across the state will miss him in more ways than we can name. A memorial service is planned at 11:00 AM on Saturday, December 9 at Memorial Baptist Church in Buies Creek.
Register for the Annual Update Webinar!
It’s hard to believe it’s nearly 2024! Every January, NCLHDA holds an annual program update webinar to share what’s new for the coming calendar year. All local health departments are encouraged to have at least one accreditation team member join the webinar. The 2024 Program Update Webinar will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, January 23 from 9:30-11:30. Invite your coworkers and register today! We hope to see you all there.
Accreditation in Action
Congratulations to Fall 2023 Health Departments!
On Friday, November 17, the NCLHDA Board adjudicated nine health departments. Congratulations to the following health departments on completing another cycle of accreditation:
- Anson County Health Department: Reaccredited with Honors
- Catawba County Public Health: Reaccredited with Honors
- Craven County Health Department: Reaccredited with Honors
- Granville Vance Public Health: Reaccredited
- Harnett County Health Department: Reaccredited with Honors
- Lenoir County Health Department: Reaccredited with Honors
- Macon County Public Health: Reaccredited
- Nash County Health Department: Conditionally Accredited
- Stanly County Health Department: Reaccredited with Honors
Mark your Calendars for 2024 Office Hours!
We’ve scheduled the next few months of office hours, which you can find on our Training Calendar. While we will take a break in January, we’ll be back offering monthly office hours in February. We typically hold these on the first Wednesday of each month to correspond with the monthly highlights. This is an informal space for you to bring your accreditation questions directly to program staff. We hope you hop on and join us!
Helpful Resources
Upcoming Webinar: “Action Steps to Disrupt Inequitable Health Outcomes: The Role of Policy in Advancing Health Equity”
Thursday, December 7 at 2:00 PM: NACCHO and Pfizer’s Multicultural Health Equity Collective (The Collective) are hosting a free webinar to sustain a focus on practical policy solutions that can help disrupt inequitable health outcomes and achieve health equity. Hear from some of the partners that contributed to the 2022 Health Equity in Action Summit and the subsequent community-developed action guide that focuses on generating solutions in policy, workforce pipeline, research and data, and healthcare facilities and systems.
Key Dates
Tuesday, January 23: 2024 NCLHD Accreditation Program Update Webinar, 9:30-11:30 am
Virtual. There is no cost to attend; however, registration is required. Register.
Interested in exploring all upcoming events? Check out our Calendar page online!
Stories from the Field
What have YOU done this year?
As we take time to reflect on 2023, we invite you to submit your own story from the field that we can share throughout our Accreditation Community! Did you know that you can now directly share a story through our website? Go to How to Get Involved > Ongoing Opportunities to submit your story! If you have a photo you’d like to include, or if you’re more comfortable via email, feel free to also send a story directly to our inbox at NCLHDaccreditation@unc.edu.
We want to hear from you
All of you across the state have unique approaches where you have found success. To help us all learn, we love when you share your tips and tricks for accreditation success with us! If you have a tip or trick that you would like to share, send a summary to NCLHDaccreditation@unc.edu. Stories will be shared via these monthly highlights.