Welcome to the Southern Strafford Community Health Coalition’s website. We are pleased to be able to offer this website as a way to demonstrate the work that we are doing and how it benefits you, the Strafford County resident. Since its creation, the SSCHC has garnered support from across Southern Strafford County to create the region’s first prioritized Public Health Improvement Plan.
Southern Strafford County’s top public health priorities were identified through an assessment process that included community member and stakeholder participation. Since creating the Public Health Improvement Plan, the majority of our work has focused on preparing our local communities for a comprehensive response to any disaster, whether natural or man-made, that may impact the health of our residents.
Additional planning efforts have begun to address issues such as hospital overflow and community response, personal preparedness, large-scale distribution of medications and vaccines, and recruitment of volunteers to carry out the plans. All preparedness efforts require ongoing training and testing. On February 27th, 2007, partners met to test the new regional plan using a fictional scenario. Improvements are being made as a result of that exercise.
The SSCHC is also proud to announce that it has signed on to coordinate a regional Citizen Corps, focused on preparing the general public for disaster and recruiting and training volunteers in disaster response. Through a partnership with the other Seacoast Public Health Networks and the United Way of the Greater Seacoast, we have been able to develop an online registration tool for volunteers as well as to provide regular Citizen Emergency Response Trainings (CERT) locally.
If you are interested in volunteering in the event of an emergency, please register at www.uwgs.org and click on “Disaster Volunteers.” Volunteers will receive information about ongoing trainings in the seacoast area throughout the year. Click for more information about Citizen Corps and CERT .
We wish to thank all of the community members and stakeholders who have helped to direct and carry out the SSCHC’s planning. Many of them work every day to improve the quality of life for our citizens. Their contributions and collaboration are what make the SSCHC’s planning efforts a success!
Sincerely,
 |
 |
|
| Joan Sundberg, Chairperson, SSCHC |
Ed Jansen, Vice-Chairperson, SSCHC |