Bringing people together for improvement

The MHA North Central Hospital Council's first involvement in community health issues began in 1995 and focused initially on conducting a comprehensive assessment of health status in the North Central Council (NCC) region. More recently, the council's board identified a desire to collaborate across northern Michigan in making measurable improvement in youth physical activity. What follows is a description of the process that we have followed in our efforts to move beyond mere assessment to bringing people together for programs directed at improving health.