Healthy Southern Illinois Delta Network

Description

Healthy Southern Illinois Delta Network (HSIDN), created in 2008, brings together health centers, hospitals, local health departments, and other organizations in a rural 16-county region. A steering committee of 10 organizations coordinates regional efforts, and 7 health community coalitions (made of over 500 members from community-based organizations and from the community) implement these efforts locally.

HSIDN organizations have received funding from the Illinois Department of Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Delta Regional Authority, Plan4Health, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Services offered

HSIDN goals include:

• Improve substance use prevention and access to mental health services
• Promote healthy diets and body weights
• Improve cardiovascular health through prevention, screening, and treatment

Results

HSIDN coalitions and action teams:

• Created toolkits for smoke-free programming that coalition members can share with schools, worksites, housing, and others
• Developed and updated resource guides for diabetes and mental health services
• Introduced schools to a coordinated approach for school health and helped 29 schools adopt or strengthen wellness policies
• Made fact sheets about cancer disparities and distributed them to local health departments
• Provided regional trainings about built environment, worksite wellness, school health, and health impact assessment
• Provided wellness training and support at over 32 worksites affecting over 11,000 employees
• Facilitated 132 free Chronic Disease Self-Management Programs and Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support programs between March 2015 and October 2025 for people with diabetes and other chronic health conditions and their caregivers
• Created Camp BETA, a free overnight camp for children with type 1 diabetes. Since 2017, 130 children ages 10-17 have been served.

Challenges

Staff turnover at agencies and organizations plays a role in the work of the coalition. It is often a challenge to keep individuals engaged and to keep the action team and steering committees moving forward to improve the health of the community with so much staff turnover.

Replication

Success of the HSIDN is due to having a strong collaborative effort with healthcare systems, local health departments, as well as other community partners and community organizations working together to create policy, systems, and environmental changes. A regional plan, developed every five years, serves as the implementation framework for each local coalition and includes evidence-based strategies for each focus area. Implementation of programming related to the regional plan occurs through the efforts of the healthy community coalitions and various action teams. Healthcare systems and local health departments tie network efforts to their own community health needs assessments, which ensure sustainability.

Contact Information