Celebrate Your Plate Campaign Gains Support of CHNA Roundtable
Tue, Nov 14, 2017 -
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Posted by
Kirstin Craciun
Gotta love Thanksgiving. And yes, you guessed it, I’m focusing this blog post on some of the many reasons I have to be grateful. This year, I’m thankful for projects that have been simmering for a while and that have suddenly gained significant traction. One of these, Celebrate Your Plate, springs from the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) Roundtable, which is comprised of representatives from our Northeast Ohio hospital members who meet quarterly to share best practices, troubleshoot and explore opportunities to collaborate for the betterment of Northeast Ohioans. The talented people I get to work with through the CHNA Roundtable are involved in CHNAs or community health initiatives at their respective facilities.
So what exactly am I so grateful for?
Well, CHNA Roundtable members recently participated in a facilitated discussion to pick one significant health need in Northeast Ohio that they wanted to work on together to address. The health need that was identified…. obesity… is always a top health need identified in hospital CHNAs. In fact, across the entire Buckeye State obesity is the most frequently cited health priority in population health planning documents.
The reality is that there are a lot of health needs in our community, some of which have gained significant (and much needed) attention from media and policymakers recently (think the opiate epidemic and infant mortality). But while obesity isn’t necessarily an issue slapping us in the face with headline grabbing stories on a daily basis, it’s something that contributes significantly to our chronic disease rates – and it’s preventable.
Let’s stop for a minute and pause to recognize the significance of hospitals (who often view one another as competitors) agreeing to work collaboratively for the benefit of everyone in the community. That’s awesome – and it’s what drives me to get up and show up at work every day.
Deciding what we were trying to impact was half the battle, the next step was deciding what we should be doing together. The members were presented with many potential partnership opportunities. Out of those conversations, they collectively decided that supporting OSU-Extension’s SNAP-Ed Celebrate Your Plate social marketing campaign was best suited to a diverse membership that includes 36 hospitals spanning 9 Northeast Ohio counties. Big thanks to Darcy Freedman for connecting us to the folks spearheading the campaign!
What is Celebrate Your Plate?
It’s a social marketing campaign that aims to shift social norms in the local community to promote a healthy diet by increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables among Ohio SNAP-Ed’s target population (families at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level). To accomplish this goal, a content hub has been created that contains helpful shopping, cooking and gardening tips; healthy recipes that are inexpensive; and information to help locate farmer’s markets, food banks/pantries and community gardens. I’m planning to make the black bean brownies and see if my kids can notice the healthy goodness packed inside.
Our partners at OSU-Extension SNAP-Ed are thrilled to have the support of Northeast Ohio hospitals because healthcare providers and clinicians are the trusted messengers for healthcare information. Our hospitals are actively working to identify the most effective way to support Celebrate Your Plate within their facilities. Options hospitals are considering include:
- Highlighting existing healthy options in their vending machines.
- Having healthcare providers refer patients to the content hub.
- Advertising the campaign in hospital waiting rooms, doctor offices and clinics.
- Purchasing incentives (such as recipe cards, branded measuring spoons, can openers, etc.) to distribute.
When will the Celebrate Your Plate campaign roll out across Northeast Ohio?
Starting in June 2018 there will be a targeted marketing blitz across our region that will likely include some combination of Pandora radio commercials, advertisements on cash jackets and posters used at check cashing locations, posters and other advertising at convenience stores, coupon bags hung on doors of key census tracts and floor slicks and shelf talkers at grocery stores. Please connect with me or any of the other partners to learn more about how you can support Celebrate Your Plate.
I’m excited to watch this campaign roll out across Northeast Ohio next summer (ahhhh, summer). I’m also eager to see how collaborations like these, that bring normally competing hospital systems together for the good of the community, can pave the way for other population health improvement initiatives. I’m thankful to have the opportunity to work alongside Northeast Ohio hospitals and other community partners as we continue to seek out community health improvement opportunities with the highest likelihood of making an impact.