San Mateo County Health (SMCH) created the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), which addresses the general health and conditions of the community by identifying the community’s top priorities.
Starting in November, the plan involves surveying many residents across the county to see different factors that may influence access to healthcare services. In addition, it hopes to work with various partners, including hospitals, the Health Plan of San Mateo, and other non-profit organizations to prioritize health topics.
Since CHIP is still in its infancy, SMCH does have a clear goal in mind in terms of the benefits it will yield in the community.
“CHIP aims to improve community engagement so that health problems can be addressed using a community approach, establish meaningful and sustainable partnerships with the community for strategic planning and shared decision-making, and ultimately result in an actionable strategic plan that is co-developed with the community partners that will lead to improved health outcomes,” said Tamarra Jones, Interim Director of Public Health, Policy, and Planning and leader of the CHIP development process.
Some of the issues the CHIP hopes to address include access to health barriers such as employment, transportation, and economy, as well as health services like mental health, chronic conditions, and substance use services.
“I think that we should devote more money to these health care facilities. So that we can essentially bring the cost down and allow people to have more accessibility,” said Rohan Yadavalli, a sophomore at Carlmont.
A major concern for SMCH is the increasing rate of health care. Throughout the United States, the cost of health care has risen from only $147 in 1960 to a projected almost $15,000 in 2023.
“I would like it if, when it came to people’s health, they didn’t have to decide whether or not they’re doing the right thing for them based on how much it cost,” said Andy Ramroth, an AP Calculus BC and AVID teacher at Carlmont.
“CHIP is intended to outline key objectives and strategies that will address determinants of health. For the 2024-2026 CHIP, we will identify three health areas. For the three health areas selected, goals, objectives, and strategies will be developed,” Jones said.
The first meeting, which occurred on Nov. 1, marked the start of the CHIP process.
“The goals of this meeting were to share findings from the SMCH Community Health Assessment (CHA) and other community needs, assessments, and results from the CHA community forums which identified health areas that were of most concern to San Mateo County residents and prioritize three health areas to be the focus of the 2024-2026 CHIP,” Jones said.
The following stage in the CHIP process is to finalize the three health areas of focus and to create workgroups targeting each area and creating individual improvement plans for each, which will occur at the end of November and the start of December, according to San Mateo County Health.
“The next step [is to] begin the development of the CHIP plan with measurable goals, strategies, and objectives for each health topic area,” Jones said.
