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Make Macomb Your Home
LIVING & PLAYING
1 South Main, Mount Clemens, MI, 48043
586-469-7001

Accomplishments

 

2019

  • Office of the Medical Examiner successfully achieved re-accreditation from the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME). The NAME Accreditation Program is an endorsement that a Medical Examiner Office is performing and maintaining a high caliber of medicolegal investigation of death for the communities and jurisdiction in which they operate. The NAME Accreditation is for 2019 through 2024.
  • Received a $270,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to expand the Nurse-Family Partnership Program. The Nurse-Family Partnership empowers first-time moms to transform their lives and create better futures for themselves and their babies. Through the partnership, the nurse provides new moms with the confidence and the tools they need not only to assure a healthy start for their pregnancies and babies, but to envision a life of stability and opportunities for success for both mom and child. The Health Department will use the new funding to recruit and train three new Public Health Nurses to support this program
  • Received a Model Practice Award at the Annual Conference of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) for developing and implementing an exemplary and replicable best practice public health program – the Youth Emergency Preparedness Training Program for Macomb County. The Youth Preparedness Program is an outreach and education initiative that targets fifth grade students who are educated on common emergencies, ways to prevent emergencies, how to create an emergency plan, and how to assemble an emergency kit for the home. This initiative increases the preparedness of students and families as well as the overall community resiliency throughout Macomb County. Over 6,700 students have received this classroom training over the past five years.
  • Communicable Disease (CD) Program implemented two new initiatives.
    • The Hepatitis C outreach team actively contacts new cases of active and chronic hepatitis cases (900 cases annually) to increase education, testing, and treatment to prevent the severe negative health outcomes from this disease.
    • The HIV Prevention Program staff implemented a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention best practice for promoting linkage-to, retention-in, and re-engagement in HIV care for people living with HIV to achieve viral suppression and improved health outcomes to reduce the transmission to others. Staff seek out and contact HIV-positive residents (approximately 700 residents) whose status of care and treatment is not documented in the state’s data system. Approximately 1,000 Macomb County residents are living with HIV and are seeking routine care.
  • Received a Child Lead Exposure Elimination Innovation Grant from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to increase the number of children screened for lead poisoning in Eastpointe and Roseville. Staff work to increase awareness of childhood lead poisoning prevention through education and lead testing in resident’s homes and community locations. This initiative began in June 2019.
  • Participated and provided leadership for two southeast Michigan cross-jurisdictional regional partnership projects to improve client services and program enhancements.
    • The Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) Engagement Project, funded through a $70,000 grant from the state is a collaboration of the Health Departments from Macomb, Oakland, Wayne, and St. Clair Counties; as well as the City of Detroit Health Department, whose purpose is to address client retention and participation in the WIC Program. During year one, the partners met and gathered information about root causes of decreased program engagement. Funding will continue to support this collaborative in 2020 to implement regional strategic actions to improve client participation and engagement.
    • The Children’s Special Health Care Services Work Group is a collaborative of the eight local health departments in southeast Michigan whose goal is to identify and implement best practices to optimize program delivery, program resources and excellence in client-centered, culturally competent services. On a regional basis, local Health Department staff provide care coordination and case management services to 50% of Michigan’s children with special health care needs (15,000 children for the region). The partners will continue to meet and implement best practices in 2020.
  • Launched an interactive Behavioral Health Resource Map that includes over 800 service locations in southeast Michigan
  • Celebrated 30 years of environmental stewardship by providing household hazardous waste collections for county residents. In 2019, over 2,500 residents brought 180,045 pounds (90 tons) of hazardous automotive, lawn/garden, and household products for appropriate recycling and disposal – a 30 % increase in residents participation compared to 2018. Over the 30 years the department has offered this program, it has facilitated the proper disposal and recycling of over 3 million pounds (1,500 tons) of hazardous products that avoided land-fill disposal and possible environmental contamination to our land, rivers, and lakes.
  • Collaborated with Oakland County Health Division to develop and promote a Cross-County Farm to School Guide that promotes the sale of locally-grown food to schools in the Macomb Intermediate School District.
  • Recipient of two separate grants from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services totaling almost $400,000 to provide outreach, education, and partnerships for initiatives focused on medical marijuana and the opioid crisis.
    • Received a $294,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs to provide public education regarding medical marijuana. During the months of July 2019 through December 2019, various media-based educational campaigns were launched to promote county-wide awareness of issues relating to medical marijuana. Focus areas of the campaign included safe product storage, dangers and impact of driving under the influence, and marijuana avoidance during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Media outreach channels included billboards, bus ads, radio and social media.
    • Received a $100,000 outreach grant from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to promote public awareness of the opioid crisis. Focus areas of the campaign included naloxone use, medication disposal at community drug disposal sites, and substance use treatment facilities. This program was also administered in alignment with Operation Rx – Macomb County’s community coalition addressing the opioid crisis.
  • Presented at the Michigan Premier Public Health Conference in Ypsilanti, Michigan in partnership with Oakland County Health Division on the departments’ Workforce Development strategies.

2018

  • Macomb County Health Department Medical Reserve Corps offered Stop the Bleed programming to health students in Macomb County. Stop the Bleed is intended to empower the general public in life-threatening emergencies by teaching basic techniques of bleeding control. Almost 300 students received Stop the Bleed training and certification over the course of three months.
  • Launched the Move More Macomb campaign – a community-driven initiative designed to increase physical activity among Macomb County residents. Move More Macomb was created to help community members find physical activity opportunities for all fitness levels, ages and costs.
  • The Tuberculosis Control Program implemented the use of online video technology for patient engagement and case management to increase efficiencies in clinical care by reducing travel time and improving medication adherence during the long treatment process (six months + for patients with active tuberculosis).
  • The MCHD's Immunization Program collaborated with a variety of community partners to provide hepatitis A vaccines and education to populations that were most at risk for the disease. Outreach locations included in-patient and outpatient substance use treatment centers, recovery homes, the Macomb County Jail, homeless shelters, community kitchens and behavioral health centers. Staff often worked off-hours and on weekends in order to provide needed education and vaccines to our most vulnerable populations. As of October 2018, education and vaccine efforts resulted in Macomb County no longer being considered an outbreak jurisdiction.
  • Presented at the Public Health Improvement Training Conference in Atlanta, Georgia (sponsored by the National Network of Public Health Institutes) on Building a Performance Management System to Strengthen Quality Improvement.
  • The STD/HIV Program staff designed strategies to deliver a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention best practice for promoting linkage to, retention in and re-engagement in HIV care for people living with HIV to achieve viral suppression and improved health outcomes to reduce transmission to others.
  • The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program received training and approval to pilot the provision of infant carriers to WIC participants at no cost to them. Families who received carriers will be assessed to determine whether the use of an infant carrier helped increase breastfeeding rates, improved infant-parent bonding, or impacted other aspects of the infant-parent relationship. Macomb County is the only WIC agency in Michigan piloting the use of an infant carrier as a public health tool.
  • Received funding from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to conduct academic detailing to address the prescription opioid epidemic in the county. Over 100 prescribers were educated following CDC guidelines.
  • Presented at the Michigan Premier Public Health Conference in Bay City, Michigan on the MCHD efforts to create an integrated opiate surveillance system.

2017

  • The Health Department celebrated its 70th anniversary serving the public health needs of Macomb County residents.
  • Successfully passed the State Accreditation review in 2017, achieving Accreditation with Commendation for meeting all 160 accreditation indicators upon the initial review. The Accreditation with Commendation was granted from the State Departments of Health & Human Services, and Environmental Quality, and Agricultural and Rural Development.
  • The Office of the Medical Examiner was re-accredited by the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) for continuing to meet the national accreditation standards. The NAME Accreditation Program is an endorsement that a Medical Examiner Office is performing and maintaining a high caliber of medicolegal investigation of death for the communities and jurisdiction in which they operate.
  • Successfully launched the national Nurse Family Partnership Program - an evidence based public health nursing home visitation program that empowers low-income first-time moms to transform their lives and create better futures for themselves and their babies.
  • Successfully transitioned the Public Health Dental Clinic in Warren to the non-profit dental provider - My Community Dental Centers (MCDC). MCDC renovated the dental clinic and provides a full range of general dentistry services for low-income county residents.
  • Successfully began testing children for blood lead levels and immunizing children and pregnant women at all Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) Program sites. Over 800 children received blood lead tests with 20 children identified with elevated lead levels. In addition, 2,500 children and women received vaccinations.
  • Proactively responded to the 2017 Hepatitis A outbreak in southeast Michigan by administering over 2,200 Hepatitis vaccinations and providing prevention education through our public health centers, substance use treatment facilities, the county jail, homeless shelters, and other community locations.

2016

  • Created Macomb Partners in Health (MacombPIH) – a multi-stakeholder organization committed to the coordination of chronic disease in Macomb County. Initial efforts of MacombPHI included community-driven activities to improve care management and reduce the rate of diabetes, heart disease and stroke in Eastpointe, Roseville, Warren and Center Line. In 2016, MacombPIH trained 28 Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) Prevention Coaches (DPP is a CDC-led evidenced-based program, which has proven to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes). More than 150 residents participated in DPP classes facilitated by MacombPIH coaches. In addition, MacombPIH hosted monthly brown bag education sessions at Walgreen pharmacies for residents; trained nine community health workers to support community outreach and education; partnered with a local convenience store to begin promoting and selling healthy food items and displaying healthy foods and signage; provided 10 healthy food cooking demonstrations to residents; initiated and adopted health meeting guidelines in partner organizations; and worked with the City of Roseville to adopt a Complete Streets ordinance.
  • Hosted the first Women’s Wellness Day at the Max Thompson Family Resource Center in Warren. Almost 200 women attended the event and received health screenings (mobile mammograms, on-site pap smears and pregnancy tests, blood pressure screening and flu shots); health and safety education classes including a self-defense class instructed by County Executive Mark Hackel; Zumba, fitness, and dance sessions; interacted with 50 different service, community and vendor organizations; and enjoyed a number of “personal indulgence” services including facials, manicures, haircuts, acupuncture, a caricature artist, and massages.
  • Continued to build the Community Outreach Program (launched in 2015), an initiative designed to connect individuals to helpful resources that can improve personal health and well-being. Outreach messaging focused on creating grass-roots awareness of MCHD services as well as resources available at other community-facing agencies and organizations. In addition, bilingual Community Health Workers provided outreach services to Hispanic, Chaldean, and Arabic clients. In 2016 the staff enrolled 368 adults and 426 children into health insurance and provided over 21,000 residents with health information and referral connections.
  • Led and convened the Macomb County Baby Resource Network, an organization comprised of over 25 community agencies that work together to prevent infant deaths in Macomb County through education and resources to support healthy pregnancies and healthy babies. During 2016 the coalition hosted two community Infant Safety Expos and five smaller community workshops to increase awareness of pregnant women and their families of “Safe Sleep for Infants” and car seat safety. Over 300 residents attended these events and over 20 community agencies supported the expos. The coalition also created an informational webpage which lists resources related to pregnancy and infant care and distributed Baby Resource Network of Macomb resource materials in the community.
  • In partnership with more than 25 community organizations, led a Community Health Assessment (CHA) of Macomb County. The assessment included information on health risk factors, quality of life, mortality, morbidity, community assets, forces of change, social determinants of health and health inequity, and information on how well the public health system provides essential services. Through the CHA, four public health priorities were identified: access to services; behavioral health services; chronic disease and healthy lifestyle; and social determinants of equity (2015 – 2016).

2015

  • Expanded the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and Family Planning services into the Max Thompson Community Center in Warren. In the first ten months over 3,800 residents received WIC and Family Planning services at the center. Inter-agency referrals were coordinated with the other programs offered at the facility – Macomb County Community Service Agency’s South Action Center and MSU Extension programs – to ensure that all clients visiting the center are able to have easy access the many services offered by the programs within the building.
  • Launched a Community Outreach Program that included four staff - a social worker and three community health workers. The staff helped connect residents to important resources to improve their health and well-being. To ensure that community health workers met the key criteria necessary for successful job performance, a Community Health Worker Certification Training Program was instituted. Eight employees from MCHD completed the training and graduated with a Community Health Worker Certificate, bringing recognition for their work in Macomb County communities and enhancing their value to our residents as community health workers.
  • Upgraded electronic health record (EHR) capabilities to include the ability to send prescriptions to pharmacies and transmit laboratory results electronically.
  • Recognized as the first local health department in Southeast Michigan to successfully implement real-time transmission of immunization data from an electronic health record to the State’s electronic immunization registry via HL7 messaging technology.
  • The Household Hazardous Waste Program collaborated with 10 local neighborhood pharmacies to provide collection receptacles in their stores. As a result, over 3,000 pounds of unwanted pharmaceuticals and personal care products were collected.
  • Partnered with a multitude of community, healthcare, business and municipal organizations to create Macomb Partners in Health (MacombPIH) – an organization committed to the use of evidence-based strategies to promote exercise and good nutrition to reduce obesity. Community engagement efforts were focused on the communities of Eastpointe, Roseville, and Warren.
  • Created the Macomb County Oral Health Coalition – a group of like-minded community organizations working to enhance residents’ access to dental services and oral health education in schools and community sites.
  • Served as a key stakeholder in the Lake St. Clair Water Festival which was held on the campus of the Macomb Community College. Through the collaborative efforts of the Health Department, Office of Public Works, Macomb Community College, Macomb Intermediate School District, and Clinton River Watershed Council, over 1,200 4th and 5th grade students and teachers had the opportunity to learn about the important role water plays in their daily lives and to identify the impact they have on water quality.
  • Led and convened a Community Action Team (CAT) whose partners collaborated to promote infant health, vitality and infant safe sleep practices. In addition to MCHD, collaborative team members included representation from Community Services Agency, MIHPS, American Indian Health & Family Services, Beaumont Hospital, State of Michigan, Providence Ministries, Roseville Fire Department, Great Start, McLaren Hospital, Babies R Us, CARE of SE MI, Henry Ford Hospital, Judson Center, Rainbow Child Care, ACCESS, Macomb Intermediate School District, Turning Point, St. John Hospital, Silverspoon Home Services, My Pregnancy Coach, Sincere Care, First Beat, Crystal Home Healthcare and First Plan Maternal Infant Services. Eight community infant safety events were held throughout the county, reaching almost 300 expectant mothers, fathers and their families. Attendees received education on infant safe sleep, car seat safety, and additional information on topics related to healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.
  • Supported the enrollment of approximately 70,000 Macomb County residents to access health insurance via the federal marketplace and the state’s Healthy Michigan Plan. The percent of uninsured Macomb County Residents fell from 15% to less than 10% of the county’s population (2014 – 2015).
  • Established Operation Rx in Macomb County to address the growing number of prescription medication and opioid/heroin overdoses and deaths. The purpose of Operation Rx was to create a broad community of stakeholders to develop and implement strategies to prevent and eradicate prescription drug abuse and narcotic misuse and abuse. Key partners included: Families Against Narcotics, Macomb County Office of Substance Abuse, Henry Ford Macomb, Macomb County Sheriff’s Office, CARE of SE MI, Medical Control Authority, Macomb Intermediate School District, Macomb County courts, police departments, county hospitals and health systems, community drug prevention coalitions and many other organizations. Through the efforts of Operation Rx, the opioid overdose antidote Naloxone was made available and used by law enforcement and first responders; medical and dental providers evaluated prescription practices; and education on the dangers of opioids was promoted throughout the county.