Healthy Adams County

Description

Healthy Adams County started in 1996 as a community-wide initiative to improve the health of residents in rural Adams County, Pennsylvania. The idea for the initiative stemmed from a survey conducted by the Council that identified local health disparities.

The Council, made up of community members, has continued to spearhead this effort to include widespread community involvement to address and solve social determinants of health throughout the region. Efforts are taken to develop short-term, high-impact projects as well as long-term, systems-level change.

Partners and funders for Healthy Adams County include:

• WellSpan Health and Gettysburg Hospital
• Collaborating for Youth
• Family First Health
• Adams County Farmers Market
• United Way of Adams County
• Manos Unidas
• Kennie's Market

Services offered

Healthy Adams County community task forces include:

• Adams County Womens Cancer Coalition
  • Promotes education, screening, and early detection of breast cancer. Coalition members have personal experiences with breast cancer.
  • Supports the Adams County Mammography Help Fund, which has decreased the annual screening mammogram cost for uninsured women over 40 years of age.
• Adams County Food Policy Council
  • Awarded a 2016-2017 USDA Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Grant, continued with funding from the Gettysburg Hospital Foundation, for a Fruit and Veggie Bucks incentive program.
  • Recipients can redeem coupons at 2 grocery store locations in the county.
  • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients receive a 50 cent on the dollar incentive when purchasing produce.
  • The program encourages the sale of local produce and promotes farm-to-institution initiatives.
• Behavioral Health Task Force
  • Educates community members how to cultivate an environment that can improve mental/behavioral health and quality of life
  • Improves access to behavioral health services
  • Provides education to the community regarding mental/behavioral health issues and trends, including Mental Health First Aid, Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) and Trauma Informed Trainings
  • Partners with the Lebanon VA to provide Suicide Prevention Campaign materials
• Children's Health & Nutrition Task Force
  • Provides advocacy, education, and resources to support changes that positively impact children's health and nutritional status
• Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Task Force
  • Aims to reduce the incidence of domestic violence and sexual assault by increasing awareness, educating the public, supporting prevention activities, and promoting collaboration
• Latino Services Task Force
  • Serves as a community forum to address issues that affect the health and quality of life of Latino residents
• Physical Fitness Task Force
  • Mobilizes and leads efforts to increase physical activity among Adams County residents to improve their health and well-being

In addition, a collaborative called Community Wellness Connections is a 2-year wellness campaign a part of Healthy Adams County that focuses on mind, body, spirit, and community. The collaborative works to educate the community on these dimensions through events that take place every 3 months that provide low-cost opportunities for activities. At these events, community members are eligible for incentives.

For more information on services and upcoming events, visit the Healthy Adams County Facebook page.

Results

Over 300 community volunteers tackle health and human service needs by serving on one of 7 task force teams. A few successes of task force teams include:

• The Behavioral Health Task Force partnered with the Weary Arts Center and the 2 Cool Dudes podcast to present “When the Sun Goes Down: Find Your Light." The event centered around interviews and vignettes about local stories of people living through their mental health situations.
• In 2025, over 750 individuals signed up for the Fruit and Veggie Buck SNAP program. Most participants indicated they were able to purchase a greater amount of produce, buy more variety, and eat healthier. View more information about the program on their poster.
• In 2023, Healthy Adams County partnered with WellSpan Health and Gettysburg College on a study to identify gaps in suicide prevention protocols in rural primary care settings. Results were presented at the 2023 American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting in Atlanta. A follow up study is being conducted, and results will be shared in 2026.
• The Adams Dental Center sees over 300 children annually and an average of 650 visits are made per year. The collaboration with Family First Health has led to increased access to medical and dental care.

For more detailed results:

• Dailey et al. (2015). Healthy Options: A Community-Based Program to Address Food Insecurity. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 43(2), 83-94.
• Dailey et al. (2021). Responding to Food Insecurity and Community Crises through Food Policy Council Partnerships in a Rural Setting. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education and Action, 16(2).

Awards and Recognition:

• Healthy Adams County Executive Director Kathy Gaskin was awarded the 2025 Kenneth K. Kugel Award for her leadership on the Adams County United Way Board of Directors.
• Healthy Adams County Executive Director accepted a 2025 Brighter Tomorrows for Children Award for Healthy Adams County from the Adams County Children's Advocacy Center for its work in the community and support of children.
• Healthy Adams County Executive Director won the 2014 Community Rural Health Leader of the Year Award.
• Gaskin and Dr. Amy Dailey, a professor of health sciences at Gettysburg College, were selected to attend the Detroit URC: Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Partnership Academy for 2016-2017.

Replication

Healthy Adams County utilizes health needs assessments in order to accurately identify the most prominent health risks and leading causes of illness and death throughout the community. This dictates the implementation of topic-specific task forces.

The most recent 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment for Adams County and four other counties in the region was a means of finding these health disparities and subsequent costs and concerns.

Items that are specifically looked at in these assessments include:

• Access to healthcare
• Health-related behavioral risks
• Prevention behaviors and context

Contact Information

Topics
Access · Community engagement and volunteerism · Networking and collaboration · Population health · Social determinants of health · Wellness, health promotion, and disease prevention

States served
Pennsylvania

Date added
June 10, 2016

Suggested citation: Rural Health Information Hub, 2025 . Healthy Adams County [online]. Rural Health Information Hub. Available at: https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/project-examples/906 [Accessed 25 November 2025]