Otero County Community Health Council
about Otero County Community Health Council

What is the Otero County Community Health Council?

View our PowerPoint presentation (PPT download) about the OCCHC.

The Otero County Community Health Council, formerly the Maternal and Child Health Council, formed in 1996 as a collaborative effort by service providers and community members to promote cooperation and networking among agencies providing community services in Otero County.

The Community Health Council is sanctioned by the Otero County Board of Commissioners as per the New Mexico Department of Health/Maternal and Child Health Plan Act contract. Funding is provided through grants from the New Mexico Department of Health/Public Health Division/Office of Health Promotion and Community Health Improvement in an effort to encourage collaboration between groups in order to become more efficient, thus saving time, energy, and ultimately dollars.

Without collaboration and networking, agencies, non-profits, and community organizations often go in different directions, duplicating the efforts of others, and leaving gaps in service. However, organizations that collaborate can be more effective, have common goals, and thus avoid gaps and duplication.

The Otero County Community Health Council is a forum in which community health concerns can be discussed. The Health Council bylaws allow for the formation of subcommittees called Life Cycles and Community Action Teams through which health concerns brought to the Health Council can be further analyzed and actions plans can be developed to improve the situation. Life Cycles (Perinatal, Early Childhood, Youth, Adult) are concerned with age specific issues, while Community Action Teams are concerned with topics that cross all demographics. Currently, our Life Cycles are inactive, but we have 2 working Community Action Teams: the Meth Coalition and the Diabetes Education and Prevention Collaborative. Life Cycles can be activated as the need arises.

The Health Council is required by the New Mexico Dept. of Health to select at least 2 main priorities, and at least one of the priorities must also be a priority of the New Mexico Dept. of Health. To select these priorities, the Health Council analyzes available data on health indicators and periodically conducts community needs assessments to evaluate which topics are of highest concern to the community. We also look at the availability of resources related to health issues. The Otero County Community Health Council has selected as priorities Substance Abuse and Obesity. We believe that these issues are the foundation for other diseases, conditions, and community problems that exist, so if we can improve these, we can improve the overall health of Otero County.

The Health Council maintains a Community Health Profile that provides specific data on these priorities, as well as information on other health topics. The Community Health Plan describes how the Health Council proposes to change the status of our priorities to improve community health.

The health council has over 200 members and over 100 participating organizations. You are invited to become a member of the Otero County Community Health Council or attend a monthly meeting.