Focus Areas for Healthy St. Mary’s Partnership

The Maryland Department of Health recently release the Building a Healthier Maryland State Health Improvement Plan, or SHIP. The plan identifies five priority areas — Chronic Disease, Access to Care, Women’s Health, Violence, and Behavioral Health — three of which are a focus for the Healthy St. Mary’s Partnership.

HSMP is a community-driven coalition of partners working together to improve health in St. Mary’s County. The coalition mobilizes members through four action teams to address the priority health issues in St. Mary’s: Behavioral Health, Chronic Disease Prevention, Environmental Health, and Violence, Injury, and Trauma.

To learn more about Healthy St. Mary’s action teams, click here. The action teams meet monthly.

The priority areas for HSMP were guided by the State Health Assessment, a compilation of primary and secondary data compiled to provide a comprehensive picture of the current state of Maryland’s health.

The SHIP establishes priorities, strategies, and targets for improving the community’s health based on the areas of greatest needs identified in the health assessment.