Living Well Iowa - Improving the Health of Iowans with Disabilities
Technical Assistance to State and Community Partners
From 1996 to 2021, the Center for Disabilities and Development (CDD) partnered with the Office of Disability and Health at the Iowa Department of Public Health in a series of successful applications to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for disability and health state capacity building grants. CDD provided technical assistance to the Iowa Department of Public Health to conduct activities that addressed six goals:
Enhance Program Infrastructure
- Manage the advisory function for the program through the Prevention of Disabilities Policy Council
- Implement and evaluate the Iowa Strategic Plan to Improve the Health of People with Disabilities
- Provide advice and technical assistance in conducting and updating a public health needs assessment for Iowans with disabilities
- Rework the Living Well Iowa website (now archived) to provide information and resources to consumers, providers, and community planners about health promotion, access to health care, accessible communities, and emergency preparedness for Iowans with disabilities
Improve State Level Surveillance and Monitoring Activities
- Assist in identifying data sources and analyzing data that better describes the Iowa population with disabilities, their health, and health disparities
Increase Awareness and Create Health-Related Policy Initiatives
- Work through the Prevention of Disabilities Policy Council to identify and implement policy initiatives related to improving the health of Iowans with disabilities
Increase Health Promotion Opportunities for People with Disabilities
- Assist in the development and dissemination of a state directory of evidence-based health promotion programs that would be available to people with disabilities
- Identify potential funding sources to support the participation of people with disabilities in the identified health promotion programs
Increase Access to Health Care for Iowans with Disabilities
- Convene a stakeholder group to develop and implement a plan to improve the accessibility of Iowa health care settings that provide preventive and primary health care services to people with disabilities
- Convene a stakeholder group to develop recommendations to improve that rate of preventive health care screenings (particularly cancer screenings) for people with disabilities
Effectively Monitor and Evaluate Program Activities
- Assist the Iowa Department of Public Health in designing and implementing an evaluation of the program
Funding for this initiiative ended in 2021. For more information, get in touch with Meredith Field at [email protected].