What to know
The mission of the Kentucky (KY) Tracking Program is to assemble and support access to environmental and health data to improve community health.
Background
Kentucky ranks consistently as one of the least healthy states in the country. Many of the health conditions faced by residents have environmental connections. Compared with national average rates, Kentucky has a high burden of respiratory issues, cancer, obesity, and heart disease.
Accomplishments
Improving Preparedness & Emergency Response Planning
Understanding the unique characteristics of a community can help in responding to future public health emergencies. The Emergency Preparedness and Response Branch of the Kentucky Department for Public Health works hard to prepare for future needs. They use a variety of factors to identify social vulnerability and community resources for such planning. Following a formal statewide Access and Functional Needs (AFN) assessment, Kentucky Tracking created a series of location-specific GIS maps. These maps provide information on location, population, communication, medical variabilities, and more in an easy-to-access display.
Local preparedness teams from every county in Kentucky are now using the available information for emergency planning. This allows them to identify their community needs, provide insight to resource allocation, and improve their local AFN Resource Libraries. The resources in these libraries include services and organizations that can be called on during an emergency response. This work will help officials to better understand local resources and strengthen emergency response plans.
Supporting Local Health Departments
KY Tracking has provided financial and technical assistance to local health departments through mini-grants. Projects have addressed issues such as built environment, extreme heat, radon, air quality, and asthma.
Addressing Children's Environmental Health
KY Tracking initiated the Kentucky Children's Environmental Health Summit in 2016. The purpose is to increase awareness of environmental issues related to children. It is currently an annual event.
Collaborating to Improve Public Health
KY Tracking maintains partnerships with federal and state agencies and community groups. This enables the program to address chronic disease problems and respond to emerging environmental health issues. An example is this community-wide arsenic exposure event.
KY Tracking supports state and local health departments in their efforts to acquire accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board.
Partnering with Universities
KY Tracking partners with various universities across the state. They help support data collection efforts and strengthen skills among public health students and the professional workforce.
Unique Data
All state and local tracking programs collect and display a set of standard data. But individual programs may host other data that are important to their populations. KY's unique data include the following.
Milestones
2010: Participated in ASTHO's Tracking Fellowship.
2013: Became the first un-funded state to submit Tracking data to CDC.
2014: KY Tracking Program established with CDC funding.
2016: Launched KY Tracking site with data for 21 environmental health measures.
2018: Increased KY Tracking data to include more than 140 measures.