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Fifteen health departments were awarded reaccreditation status by the N.C. Local Health Department Accreditation (NCLHDA) Board on May 19.

Davie County Health and Human Services-Public Health Division was included in this group, but was also awarded the Reaccreditation with Honors designation. This designation was implemented for the first time in the Fall of 2017 to recognize agencies that especially excelled in the accreditation assessment by missing one or less activities within each of five standards set by the NCLHDA program.

County Manager Brian Barnett presented an official accreditation plaque to the public health team and members of the health and human services board on June 27.

“This reaccreditation is a major accomplishment for Davie County (Public Health).  We are thankful to have a team of public health professionals who are dedicated and work tirelessly to ensure the well-being of our community.  We are grateful for their invaluable contributions that make our community healthier and stronger,” he said.

An Accreditation Team, consisting of Tiffany Eldridge, Allyson Hamilton, Brittany Mitchell, Justin White, and Lisa Ivester devoted many hours to the project. Ivester served as the overall voordinator, and team members helped collect, review, electronically organize, highlight and submit six years of qualifying and documented evidence for more than 147 activities.

The team also performed a self-assessment (completed by the agency), hosted a site visit by a multidisciplinary team of peers to review performance standards, and participated in determination of accreditation status by an independent board comprised of state and local public health officials, health board members, county commissioners and at large members.

The focus of North Carolina’s Local Health Department Accreditation (NCLHDA) is on the capacity of the department to perform at a prescribed, basic level of quality the three core functions of assessment, policy development, and assurance; and the 10 essential services of public health.

By achieving this legislatively-mandated status, the Davie County Health and Human Services-Public Health Division is united with the 85 other accredited health departments in North Carolina in carrying forth the NCLHDA mission of seeking to improve the health of all citizens and enhancing the quality of local public health.

North Carolina is the first state to mandate accreditation for its local health departments. The program is a collaboration of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health (part of the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and the North Carolina Association of Local Health Directors.