Community Corps Member Shares Insights at Public Health Conference

May 26, 2023 

On May 23, 2023, Community Corps member Melody Moe co-presented at the annual Wisconsin Public Health Association and Wisconsin Association for Local Health Departments and Boards Conference in Middleton, WI. The conference centered on Strengthening Foundations for Thriving Communities: Innovative Solutions for Health Equity. During one of the opening sessions, a number of representatives from local health departments joined Melody to share a new toolkit for injecting health equity into Community Health Assessments (CHA) and Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIP).

Melody is currently serving at Watertown Health Department and has been highly involved in the county’s work on their CHA/CHIP. During the presentation, she spoke about the importance of using focus groups and key informant interviews to help determine the most important health issues occurring in the community. Specifically, she stated, “Focus Groups are important in our work because they give us a deeper understanding of the issues at hand. We are able to receive data and information from a diverse group of individuals within our community, which helps us to better prioritize their overall needs.”

When reflecting about her experience at the conference, Melody shared, “AmeriCorps has opened the door for me to serve at our local health department and learn all about the inner workings of public health. … Prior to my experience with AmeriCorps, I was not aware of the expansive work that public health does to keep our communities healthy. I am very thankful for all of the opportunities and learning experiences that I have been offered through this year of service, and I look forward to what is yet to come.”

The formal toolkit presented at the conference will be available to Wisconsin local health departments sometime later this year.