The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) is conducting a state health improvement plan for the first time. They're asking the public to help them narrow down specific solutions for the three areas the department has prioritized: behavioral health, access to care and unintentional injuries. As part of the new state health improvement plan, officials drafted what they think are actionable items to help deal with those issues.
Feliciana Turner, the performance improvement and health equity manager at WDH, said one of the overarching themes is to improve and promote resilience and well-being.
"Things like improving positive social connectedness, expanding social and emotional learning opportunities for people, reducing stigma and discrimination, and increasing health-seeking behavior. So that's a couple of examples within behavioral health," she said.
Turner said expanding telehealth is a strategy for access to care while improving safety and risk reduction would help with unintentional injuries. But now they are taking these potential strategies to the public.
"We want people to have the option to also weigh that [challenges] into their decision making and thinking," said Turner. "And the nice thing about these platforms is that people will get to have dialogue with each other and think about what some of those concerns are that they have, or why they really support a strategy."
She said the information collected will help them decide which actions they should move forward with. Public meetings are virtual.
