HASTINGS, Neb. – A south-central Nebraska health department announced the launch of a new community improvement plan Friday by the literal launching of rockets. 

Community members and leaders of the South Heartland District Health Department, which serves Adams, Clay, Nuckolls, and Webster counties, met at ESU 9 in Hastings to hear about the new Community Health Improvement Plan. (CHIP)

Every six years, the SHDHD outlines a CHIP to identify public health priorities in the region.

This time around, the health department is focusing on three priorities: Mental Wellbeing, Chronic Disease Conditions, and Senior Health, which were decided by the SHDHD Board of Directors.

SHDHD Executive Director Michele Bever said these priorities were made known to the board by focus groups, community survey, and by looking at local health data

The six-year plan outlines the need to increase access of these specific healthcare fields, and to raise awareness about these conditions, among others. 

Over 50 community members joining at Friday's meeting were asked to provide their input on how they think those three areas could be improved.

"We were talking among different groups about what's the first step we want to take before April of next year," said Bever. "So we're planning the first year of activities around these 15 different strategies we'll be addressing."

After the morning workshop, participants shifted outdoors to launch foam rockets with CHIP on the sides to formally 'launch' the six-year initiative.

The SHDHD board and community participants will meet bi-yearly in April and October to provide updates on their formed strategies, and to brainstorm new ideas.

"A lot of the strategies we can start on right away. Some of them are more educational campaigns, for example, around screening opportunities for chronic diseases, or we are looking at starting some work on reducing stigma on mental health and substance use," said Bever. "So there's a lot of different things there that we can start right away, and we hope to see some short term successes by April."