Service represents a tangible demonstration of the school's commitment to create and sustain community and national partnerships characterized by open communication, collaboration and outreach. Through this commitment, the school and its partners derive mutual benefit through exchanged knowledge, resources and expertise. Faculty and staff view inclusion of our partners as a strength and centerpiece of all our activities.

Our service mission is to promote and advance the service activities of the School of Public Health and Information Sciences to our communities and members of the public health professions. In order to accomplish this mission, our service goals seek to:


Advance:

• Connections between community and public health partners and SPHIS faculty and resources
• Development of practicum projects for MPH students
• Identification of new partnerships
• Relationships and partnerships to further the mutual needs of the community, school, and university

Promote:

• Public health expertise and research interests of faculty and departments
• Center for Health Hazards Preparedness
• Continuing education offerings
• Current community programs and service activities

Partnerships:

Partnership for a Green City

This partnership was launched in August 2004 between Louisville Metro Government (which includes Louisville Metro-Department of Public Health and Wellness), Jefferson County Public Schools and the University of Louisville to to protect the environment and improve overall quality of life in the community. The objectives include environmental education, public health and environmental management. The partners collaborate on services, cost savings by leveraging their buying power on big-ticket items together and sharing information on environmental challenges. Russ Barnett, Vice President of U of L's Kentucky Institute for the Environment and Sustainable Development, administers the program from a U.S. Department of Education grant.

The partnership already has made significant strides toward meeting its goals:

• Saving $8,000 a year in landfill disposal costs;
• Increasing recycling efforts;
• Identifying other cost savings through energy audits and management;
• Attracting $880,000 in outside grants and contracts for local environmental projects;
• Teaching environmental education to public school teachers and creating outdoor classrooms at six local schools; and
• Creating a new joint position to improve the health of schoolchildren

For more information on this project contact the Department for Environmental and Occupational Health at spheohs@lousiville.edu.

Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS)

The Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) system is composed of over 150 schools and learning centers and addresses the educational needs of almost 98,000 students. As the 28th largest school district in the United States, JCPS recognizes that the successful student has a number of health issues that need to be addressed in order for each student to reach their academic potential. Through this partnership, SPHIS faculty expertise impacts strategic health initiatives such as:

• training of school-based personnel;
• increasing immunization rates;
• addressing the impact of chronic health conditions such as asthma; and,
• facilitating an evaluation of the impact of health services on the student body.

The collaboration has also impacted JCPS emergency planning for situations involving infection or disease transmission, such as pandemic influenza. The aim is to create and evaluate plans that are useful, workable and sustainable.

For more information on this project contact the Department for Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at sphhpbs@lousiville.edu

U of L Healthcare

U of L Healthcare represents an essential partnership with the school. A tremendous number of research and service projects have been initiated with UofL Healthcare, involving the University of Louisville Hospital, the James Graham Brown Cancer Center and services provided through the Ambulatory Care Center. A unique partnership exists between the school and the University of Louisville Hospital's Infection Prevention and Control Department to assist with training, planning and project implementation as well as maintaining essential community and national links regarding emergency preparedness and community response plans.

For more information on these projects contact the Department for Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at sphhpbs@lousiville.edu.

Infection Prevention and Control Competencies

The Infection Prevention and Control Competencies project aims to identify the core competencies and the terminal objectives that should be practiced by all healthcare personnel during routine performance of their job responsibilities. If this is part of the foundation of practice, amplification of those actions during time of a crisis can be reasonably expected.

The initial project focuses on outlining the core competencies and terminal objectives for hospital-based healthcare workers (e.g. physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, laboratorians, clinical nursing assistants, physical/occupational therapists and environmental services workers).  Using a Delphi Panel of experts, a list of competencies and objectives derived from the literature will be circulated in order to clearly and completely articulate the competencies and objectives then assign them to the categories of healthcare workers.  Upon completion, an advisory committee consisting of academia, industry, and strategic partners will help translate and disseminate the final competencies and objectives.

For more information on these projects contact the Center for Health Hazards Preparedness chhp@lousiville.edu

Louisville Health Information Exchange

Louisville Health Information Exchange, Inc., (LouHIE), is a not-for-profit 501(c)4 corporation, formed in January 2006, to serve as a community health information exchange for the greater Louisville community.  LouHIE's vision is to contain rising costs and improve quality of healthcare by providing consumers and their providers anytime, anywhere access to complete healthcare information and decision-support.  Click here to view a PDF of the LouHIE Strategic Framework.

For more information visit www.louhie.org or contact the Department for Health Management and Systems Sciences at sphishmss@louisville.edu.

Office of External Affairs

For more information on developing partnerships with the school, contact Ruth Carrico, PhD, Director of Service, or Melissa Schreck, Assistant Director, External Affairs.