A Quick Check-Up: One Year Into Brown County's Community Health Improvement Plan (posted March 9, 2026)

By Adam Behnke, Communications Specialist for Brown County Public Health

Public Health focuses its effort at the community level. Traditional healthcare, or 'going to the doctor,' focuses on caring for each patient. Public Health looks at everyone who lives in a specific area—which in our case is Brown County. It’s like the difference between fixing a leaky faucet and fixing the city’s water pressure. Both are essential but operate on different scales. 

Public health departments stay organized using a continuous loop. We don’t guess what a community needs. Instead, we rely on a data-driven process called the Community Health Assessment (CHA) and the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). This ongoing cycle helps us learn how and where the community needs help. We then target those needs with specific initiatives. Today, we'll review our Community Health Improvement Plan one year after its release. And we'll share progress in key areas focused on improving people's long-term health.


The CHA: What’s Going On? 
The Community Health Assessment is like a giant check-up for a county or a city. Public health workers collect data about: 

• Health Statistics: How many people have diabetes? What percentage of adults in Brown County get an annual check-up? 
• Social Factors: Do people have access to grocery stores? How affordable is the housing? 
• Community Input: Surveys and focus groups reveal community challenges to health and wellbeing.

“Your health affects most everything,” said Katrina Nordyke, Deputy Health Officer for Brown County Public Health. “And then if you think of that at a population level, you're also going to be talking about the structures and systems that define your community. So that assessment, of course, will be a snapshot of current state, but also should help tell the story of where you've been and where you're going. Part of the goal of that Community Health Assessment is to ascertain where there are gaps in health. So, which folks in your community are experiencing poorer quality of health and wellbeing.” 


The CHIP: What Are We Doing About It? 
Public health leaders develop a Community Health Improvement Plan using areas of need identified in the CHA. You can think of a CHIP as a public health 'battle plan’ that includes:

• Focus Areas: Picking the top few issues to focus on. 
• Goals and Strategies: Goals are the long-term aims in a focus area. A strategy is an approach to achieve a goal. For example, a goal could be to reduce heart disease in the community. A related strategy might be to teach healthy cooking classes at the local ADRC.
• Partnerships: Deciding how community partners will join the work.

“The Community Health Improvement Plan aims to better the health for the entire population and also it looks at specific populations that especially marginalized and looks to also help those populations on a pathway toward better health and wellbeing,” said Nordyke. “We do that every three years in Brown County. We include quantitative and qualitative data in the CHA. For the CHIP we have included local community organizations and partners that are engaged in work that aligns with the need and support them to either expand that work, or offer technical assistance, fiscal support, reporting support, and highlight the work that they're doing through the CHIP.”

Beyond Health: The Brown County Collaborative 
In Brown County, Beyond Health oversees CHA/CHIP process. Health-focused organizations and non-profits make up this steering committee:

• Brown County Public Health 
• De Pere Health Department 
• Oneida Community Health Services Department 
• WI Department of Health Services - Division of Public Health 
• N.E.W. Community Clinic 
• Aurora BayCare Medical Center 
• Hospital Sisters Health System 
• Emplify Health by Bellin 
• Prevea Health 
• Brown County United Way 

These partners work together to decide how to address community health concerns. Wisconsin law requires new health assessments and improvement plans on a regular rotation.

“Every five years is the requirement for local Health departments,” said Chrystal Woller, Health Officer for the City of De Pere Health Department. “And for health systems, it’s every three years. So, in Brown County, we've partnered together to do this initiative every three years with our health system partners. Because partnerships mean everything in this work.” 


The Current Situation: Where Are We Now in the CHA/CHIP Cycle? 
In February 2025, members of Beyond Health invited the media to the Brown County United Way's City East Center. They unveiled the 2025-2027 Community Health Improvement Plan. After the news conference, they held individual interviews at the center and at a local TV station.


(Brown County Health Officer Anna Nick speaks at a news conference to unveil the Beyond Health Community Health Improvement Plan in February 2025.)


(De Pere Health Office Chrystal Woller gives an interview to a TV station photojournalist at the United Way's City East Center in February 2025.)


(Brown County Public Health Officer Anna Nick gives an in-studio interview to WBAY anchor Chris Roth in February 2025.)

Local leaders made the CHIP with Wisconsin's health goals in mind. The state creates a State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) that updates every five years. For this CHIP cycle, Beyond Health aligned its work with the priority areas in the 2023-2027 SHIP. This alignment helps focus efforts on key issues, maximizing impact with available resources.

There are three focus areas developed for Brown County:  

1. Mental Health and Substance Use 
2. Healthy and Safe Homes 
3. Pathways to Healthcare  

Beyond Health members spent much of this first year organizing. This sets the stage for long-term success.

“So that year has been spent building trust, brainstorming, creating strategic plans to forward the strategies or the priorities,” said Nordyke. “In addition, Brown County Public Health was able to share some funding with those strategy groups to help them carry out the work that is in line with the CHIP. And so those funds are going to the organizations already doing the work closest to those populations.” 

Mental Health and Substance Use
The first focus area of the Community Health Improvement Plan has three goals:

Goal 1: Decrease number of poor mental health days.
​The Brown County Coalition for Suicide Prevention (BCCFSP) is leading an effort to increase the number of people participating in mental health trainings. In 2025, nearly 500 community members participated in trainings:

• Question, Persuade, Respond (QPR) Gatekeeper Training
• VA SAVE Training
• Mental Health First Aid
• Signs of Suicide (SOS) Training

In addition, three new Mental Health First Aid trainers and two QPR trainers were brought up to speed.

The BCCFSP is also spearheading an effort to increase community events that build social connectedness, reduce stigma, and increase awareness about mental health resources. In 2025, several events were held, including Table Talks, Loss Support meetings, the Northeast WI Suicide Prevention Summit, and the Be The Light Walk. 

Goal 2: Prevent excessive alcohol use.
The Brown County Coalition for Change is leading the charge to increase public knowledge about responsible consumption of alcohol and alternatives. In 2025, Section Yellow (a sober Packers fan group) held a sober tailgate for the first five home Packers games, created a public Facebook page, and was featured in a Wall Street Journal article about normalizing sobriety in a drinking culture.

Goal 3: Increase resources to prevent opioid-related overdoses.
The Brown County Coalition for Change is also the lead for reducing barriers to prevention and treatment services. In 2025, the coalition worked on a new website and established subgroups with regular meetings. It also purchased fentanyl and xylazine test strips to distribute to community organizations and members. And, the coalition sponsored the 3rd Annual Recovery Awareness and Memorial Walk hosted by Dalmont Pheonix Foundation and the Mandolin Foundation.

Community Wins
The Greater Green Bay YMCA installed a new Public Health Vending Machine outside of the Ferguson Family YMCA. The vending machine provides Narcan, fentanyl test strips, and personal care products.

N.E.W. Community Clinic opened a new behavioral health clinic that will provide medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for substance use disorders.


Healthy and Safe Homes 
The second focus area of the Community Health Improvement Plan has one goal:
Goal: Increase access to economically attainable and safe housing.
The Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition is leading the effort to increase rent-based education programming available to Brown County tenants. In 2025, The Brown County Rent Smart Collaboration hosted its first in-person Rent Smart cohort. The Salvation Army of Greater Green Bay also hosted two Rent Smart cohorts.

The coalition is also in charge of the objective to increase resources that support landlords who provide economically attainable housing options in Brown County. In 2025, the Landlord Engagement Workgroup service providers (House of Hope, Golden House, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Brown County Housing Authority, and NEWCAP) presented about services and programs at the Apartment Association of Northeast Wisconsin’s meeting.

Community Wins
The Salvation Army of Greater Green Bay’s Tenant Success Fund was launched with funding from The Greater Green Bay Community Foundation’s One Community Fund. This fund helps remove barriers that people may face when accessing rental units – such as evictions, credit, or rental history. The funding helps landlords cover risks like missed rent payment or damages. Support is also provided to households enrolled in the program through tenant education courses and case management.  


Pathways to Healthcare
The third focus areas of the Community Health Improvement Plan has one goal:
Goal: Help people get the right medical care when and where they need it. 
A workgroup has been assembled specifically for this challenge, charged with trying to:

• Reduce preventable emergency department visits at all healthcare systems.  
• Increase participation in community-based chronic disease prevention programming at participating organizations.  
• Expanding evidence-based screening and intervention programs across a lifespan at all participating locations.  

In 2025, partners came to the table to decide who will lead strategy development. Organizations represented by this group include Prevea, HSHS, Emplify, Aurora BayCare, N.E.W. Community Clinic, Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC), De Pere Health Department, and Brown County Public Health. 

Community Wins
The Brown County ADRC recruited four new facilitators for Healthy Living with Diabetes, an ongoing chronic disease program. Beyond Health launched a brand-new multi-disciplinary Food is Medicine workgroup. And, a subcommittee began work on an an upcoming public education campaign about when to choose urgent care versus the emergency room.

“The health systems and public health need to work together to illuminate that path towards health,” said Nordyke. “And part of that is educating folks about how to navigate that pathway to healthcare. But also educate on ways to prevent diseases and illnesses. And it's our responsibility as well to look at that overall health of the population to make sure that everyone has access. And that the folks who need more support in order to access have the resources they can tap into to also be on that pathway toward optimal health and wellbeing.” 
 While the work begins to ramp up in 2026, the real payoff will require patience. Agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation routinely describe community health improvement as a long-term, generational effort.

“To change population health data and indicators takes time," said Woller. "The work that we're doing today will probably see the benefits, you know, after we retire."

But that's the reason public health and our partners take on these challenges. Because we can make the future better through sustained, unwavering effort. Even if the rewards aren't our own.

Stay Healthy, Brown County!