HEALTHY MILITARY COMMUNITIES

NACDD ACTION ON MILITARY HEALTH

NACDD continues to collaborate with the CDC and the Defense Health Agency to identify approaches to increase strategic communication and partnerships between state and local public health, community development efforts, and the DoD to create healthy communities that support Service member recruitment, readiness, and retention.

The Building Healthy Military Communities Thought Leader Roundtable

NACDD convened partners through a series of four Thought-Leader Round Table Sessions to develop recommendations for state Chronic Disease Directors and other health department staff to help orient their agency’s contribution to the Building Health Military Communities effort and continue to evolve community-based solutions as progress is made toward military health and mental fitness. The BHMC Thought Leader Roundtable Recommendations focus on five priority areas:

Collaboration and Coordination
Transportations and Geographic Dispersion
Mental Healthcare and Substance Misuse/Abuse
Family Supportive Resources
Adverse Health Behaviors

Read the full recommendations report here.

The Building Healthy Military Communities Toolkit

This resource is designed for DoD service providers (e.g., clinical, public/population health, family service programs, etc.) and other community-based organizations that support Service members and their families.

It provides tactics and strategies to engage in effective communications with public health and related agencies. It also outlines methods for identifying national and state resources available to Service members. More importantly, it provides guidance on evidence-based practices that have the potential to reach more Service members by promoting the health of the communities in which they live.

With a few exceptions, this resource does not include DoD resources. The intent is to increase knowledge of civilian resources and evidence-based practices that can be adopted to enhance the DoD’s efforts to help Service members, potential recruits, and their families meet readiness standards.

Since military and civilian operations do not interact on a regular basis, public health professionals can encourage their new and existing military partners to use this resource.

Webinar: How Public Health and the Department of Defense Can Work Together to Improve Our Nation’s Health and Security

NACDD hosted a webinar on May 23, 2019, focusing on how public health and the DoD can work together to improve our nation’s health and security. The webinar featured a speaker from the Defense Health Agency who described the unique public health needs of our nation’s service members followed by two examples of state-based approaches to military and civilian collaboration from North Carolina and Florida.