About Healthy Community Coalition
Promoting health and well-being in Greater Franklin County, Maine
An affiliate of the Franklin Community Health Network
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Promotion of Healthy Behaviors: An old fashioned ounce of prevention with modern twists
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Get involved and Make a Difference, Make Friends, Make History
Our Two Strategies to Improve the Health of Our Community
Healthy Community Coalition is an affiliate of the Franklin Community Health Network with a mission to improve the health and well-being of our families, our neighbors, and the communities where we live and work. We have two main strategies.
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Community building: We bring the community together, expanding opportunities for recreation, voluntarism, work, and just getting together to enjoy the company of our neighbors.
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Promotion of healthy behaviors: We work with our partners to promote healthful lifestyles and educate the public about ways to prevent disease and improve the quality of their lives.
Common sense tells us this work matters, but scientists are helping confirm it. A good body of evidence suggests that our first goal -- strong, bonded communities -- can improve longevity and other health factors. And the preventive screenings and education offered in Greater Franklin County by HCC and our partners at Franklin Memorial Hospital, the Western Maine Center for Heart Health, and others, have also shown results. Our community has the lowest smoking rate in the State of Maine and one of the lowest death rates from cardiovascular disease.
Community building: As Simple as a Playground
HCC works to build our community by bringing people together and assisting them in making changes in our community. We start by asking: what does our community need or want to improve the lives of people who live or work here? Then we work with the community to help make that vision real.
One tool we use to understand the community's vision is the Community Health Visioning, a biennial process administered by HCC on behalf of sponsoring organizations including our parent organization, the Franklin Community Health Network, the United Way of Tri-Valley, University of Maine at Farmington, and HealthReach Community Health Centers. Meetings are held in every corner of the region to find out what people think are the priorities for health in their community. Then the entire community comes together for a final visioning conference to set goals for the coming two years.
HCC's network of community health advocates and volunteers work in local communities to help make visions real. For instance, in Jay and Livermore Falls, the HCC Community Health Advocate worked with local residents to develop the Jay Church Street Playground. The community raised funds for new equipment, town officials offered land and maintenance, and local contractors volunteered a day to install it. The new playground was dedicated to the memory of Leanne LeBlond, a young mother who died at a fire on the site, and in honor of the firefighters who risked their lives at the blaze and rescued her 18-month-old son.
Promotion of Healthy Behaviors: An old fashioned ounce of prevention with modern twists
Screenings and information: Many people know HCC from our 29-foot mobile health unit, painted by local artists with pictures of children flying kites. Others know us for our annual Community Wellness Fair offered with UMF. Still others have seen our staff and volunteers at festivals and parades and events throughout the year. All of these outreach efforts offer screenings and health information including:
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Cholesterol screenings
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Blood pressure
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Smoking cessation
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Nutrition
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Physical activities
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Breast and cervical cancer early detection
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Bone density screening
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Bike helmets
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Car safety for kids
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Many others.
Programs to support change
Working with residents, schools, physicians, Franklin Memorial Hospital, mental health agencies, local government, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and many others, HCC works with the community to address some of the problems people worry about. These include:
The Healthy Maine Partnership: HCC is one of 31 sites throughout Maine designated as a Healthy Maine Partnership with support from the Fund for a Healthy Maine. This partnership promotes policies and activities in the community to reduce tobacco use, improve nutrition, and increase physical activities. There is a strong emphasis on youth programs.
Tobacco-Free Franklin Families: With funding from the American Legacy Foundation, HCC is leading a coalition to help address smoking among pregnant women and disadvantaged parents of preschoolers.
Youth to Youth: In partnership with all five school districts in our region, SAD 36, Jay, SAD 9, SAD 58, and Rangeley, this initiative gives high school students the opportunity to envision a better future for youth in their communities and make those improvements happen. By empowering young people, this program aims to prevent substance abuse by addressing the problem at its roots: feelings of hopelessness, and isolation from the larger community.
Lean On Me: Everyone Has Mental Health: Led by the Mental Health Task Force, Lean On Me aims to reduce stigma around mental illness, encourage people to talk about mental health issues, offer support groups, and educate the public and key opinion leaders like clergy about mental health issues.
Breast Cancer Campaign: HCC promotes early detection of breast cancer throughout the community, and participates in the Maine Breast & Cervical Cancer Prevention program and other funding opportunities to make available affordable mammography screenings for all women over 40. HCC is also working with health care providers to find ways to better assist women diagnosed with breast cancer.
A Long History in Our Community
Our roots extend to the late 1960’s, when a group of local physicians formed Rural Health Associates. They had the then-radical notion that prevention should be as important to health care as traditional services like check-ups and hospitalization. Over the years those physicians and nurses formed partnerships with people in the community and worked to prevent disease and tobacco use, and they began to show real success. Healthy Community Coalition was one of the offspring of the work of these local providers, formed in 1989 and formally incorporated at FCHN in 1992 with seed funding from the Bingham Program.
Over the years, the success of our work in preventing disease and improving the quality of life has attracted attention throughout the State and even the nation. HCC and our partners are featured in media in Maine, such as MPBS’s MaineWatch and Down East Magazine, and nationally, in publications like Prevention and Self. We have won statewide and national awards and recognitions. HCC and our work is featured regularly in the local news, including our two regular HealthBeat outlets in the Franklin Journal and on WKTJ radio. Our Nutrition Task Force Chair and youth involved in our Youth to Youth campaign have columns in the Franklin Journal.
Get involved Make a Difference, Make Friends, Make History
The dedicated people in our coalition are the reason we make the news and win awards: you and your neighbors are the Healthy Community Coalition. Volunteers, nonprofit organizations and agencies, and businesses make up our task forces, which look at issues in the community that residents bring up. Task forces are currently addressing physical activities, nutrition, mental health, family violence, childhood obesity, and many other issues. Other community groups come together to help plan our next steps and move us forward. Volunteers work on our mobile health unit or our health displays at community events, helping to educate passers-by on the latest information on being as healthy as you can. Getting involved is a great way to make friends and see real results from your efforts. Contact us to explore opportunities.
