The National Association of Counties (NACo) is a national organization that represents county governments and like all government entities, counties face many challenges. One of NACo’s primary goals is to help counties meet those challenges and assist them to better serve their residents. To that end they have teamed with the Center for Rural Health Works to develop a manual entitled Rural Health Works: Community Health Engagement for Local Elected Officials. This guide is aimed at helping county officials become more effective leaders about rural health care systems through educational resources, training sessions, and technical assistance.
The Community Health Engagement Process (CHEP) is just one of the many tools developed by the Center for Rural Health Works to get local people to solve local problems and improve a communities health and wellness. SORHs are encouraged to research and take advantage of tools like the CHEP and IMPLAN, an impact analysis tool, to help respond to questions about jobs, services, and impact about their rural health care systems and relate best practices and success stories to stakeholders and policymakers.
