Community Health as Community Partnerships

The article describes a project to improve health outcomes of a rural community by fostering collaboration among the health care providers, support systems, consumers, and community leaders. The presence of Ohio State University Extension was a key step in building the framework for collaboration. A Community Health Assessment was developed as a means to do a broad-based survey of community residents. The assessment focused on health education, health care, and financial concerns. Survey results showed that many resident concerns were directly related to the infrastructure of health in the community