The Illinois Department of Human Services and the Center for Public Health Practice at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health Announce ...

Academy Model

Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Leaders require new skills to assist their communities in reaching Year 2010 goals and moving into the 21^st century of disease prevention and health promotion.
To help meet this need, the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) and the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health (UIC SPH), in collaboration with University of Nebraska Medical Center, have developed a training model to enhance the effective use of data for maternal and child health. This model is about data use: using data effectively in MCH programs and policy development, with skills-building in the translation of data to action in communities. The Illinois MCH DataUse Academy uses this model to train MCH Leaders in Illinois. 

PURPOSE:

The Academy is designed to respond to the challenges of the IOM Report,  The Future of Public Health, and Chapter 23 of Healthy People 2010, to ensure that the public health infrastructure is strengthened through individual professional leadership development in order to provide the ten essential public health services effectively.

Key Components of the Academy

Develop Basic Understanding of MCH Epidemilogy Leadership Group Development Use of Illinois-specific MCH Data Sources Audio-conferences for Fellows Reality Based Learning (PBL Process) Case Study Teaching Examples Role Play Practice with Gov't Officials Team Project in the community Public Awareness Session

• The Academy starts with a local Kick-Off Meeting that begins the year-long learning experience. The Kick-off introduces community teams to collaborative leadership concepts, the basics curriculum and current issues in public health datause.
• Basics lessons are viewed at convenience of local teams and followed up with conference calls and presentations.
• Teams are convened six months after the initial conference at the three day meeting in which they become involved in a "hands-on" case study that presents typical problems and concerns and information that might come before a Local Health Department
• The final event, the twelve-month meeting, is the culminating Academy experience as the Teams present their Community Projects to other fellows and professionals.

Target Audience and Selection Process:

The Academy will be primarily targeted to counties or cities. Communities will apply as teams, under the leadership of the local health department administrator or MCH director. Four to five communities will be accepted for each Academy, with a total of 20 to 25 people in each Academy. Teams may be composed of four to six persons. Applicants will be strongly encouraged to include team members from other branches of city or county government and private or not-for-profit sectors. Preference will be given to local health departments who employ graduates of the Mid-America Regional Public Health Leadership Institute and the Illinois Institute for Maternal and Child Health Leadership. 

contact the DataUse Academy at