GOLD BEACH – The Curry Healthy Communities project is now under way to determine the health needs of the county, then work toward meeting those needs.

“What we’re doing right now is looking at what the core health issues are,” said Annette Klinefelter-Dingle, manager of community health programs and development for the Curry County Public Health Department, who is heading the project.

Klinefelter-Dingle is heading a five-member team which will work with the communities of Brookings, Gold Beach and Port Orford on the project.

“We are collecting data that paints a picture of our community – health, housing, early childhood, preparation for learning in kindergarten, related to how many women are having prenatal care and well baby health, for example,” she said.

“We have vision councils we will be launching in each community. The purpose of those councils is to help collect key data and to interpret that data, what it means for the community,” Klinefelter-Dingle said.

The team recently met with community leaders to explain the program, which is funded from a variety of sources, including grants, funds the county receives for tobacco and alcohol prevention, and other funding sources.

“These are all funding streams that do not come out of the county general fund. They come directly to Curry County Human Services,” she said.

“Because our communities are different, we’re going to localize. Each community is telling us what our community needs,” Klinefelter-Dingle said.

She said it might mean community gardens, or something similar.

“Who knows? They (the vision councils) represent the voice of the community,” she said.

Curry Healthy Communities Project components include:

•Conducting a comprehensive health assessment for Curry County.

•Gathering community input to guide further health efforts of the Curry Health Network and Curry Health and Human Services.

•Developing and implementing strategies to prevent and reduce alcohol and substance use among youth and young adults.

•Creating and supporting the Network of Care online resource directory to provide community members with updated information and resources.

Klinefelter-Dingle said the first year of the project is about interpreting data. Then the project will launch initiatives next fall.

“We’re looking at health, getting some data from the Curry Health Network, some vital statistics from Oregon Health Authority, any data relating to learning from Head Start and local school districts. Now, we’re in the process of mapping out what the data is and where we can find it,” she said.

“We have a staff of five and probably well over a hundred individuals throughout the county involved in vision councils and the work of the vision councils,” Klinefelter-Dingle said.

She said the project will identify people who are in education, social service volunteers, homeless issues and hunger issues. 

“People who already are knowledgeable about these issues, bringing them together,” Klinefelter-Dingle said.

She said the staff has already begun.

“We’ve been working on this project, getting preparation and strategy for the last month,” Klinefelter-Dingle said.

She said the staff is working out of the county annex building in Gold Beach, in the old treasurer’s office.

The project’s website is http://curry.or.networkofcare.org/ph/countycontent/curry/communities-project.cfm.