What do Winona County ASAP and COVID-19 prevention efforts have in common?
Quite a bit, actually!
Although Winona County ASAP works to prevent youth substance abuse and the world is currently preventing the spread of a virus, there is one thing these things have in common. Can you guess it?
Yes – it’s prevention!
Below is the Strategic Prevention Framework model – also known as “SPF” for short. Follow along as we break it down step-by-step and relate it to both COVID-19 and Winona County ASAP!
Step 1: Assessment
- For ASAP: We assess our community’s substance abuse problems through survey and data collection and evaluation.
- For COVID-19: Our health department and healthcare workers assess how many people are exhibiting symptoms and determine where or who they may have contracted the virus from.
Step 2: Capacity
- For both ASAP and COVID, professionals are at work determining our county’s capacity for addressing the issue. Do we have the partnerships we need? What about supplies and personnel?
- ASAP’s partnerships look like volunteer commitments and staff, whereas COVID looks upon our local healthcare providers and establishments for help. Funding also plays a key role here.
Step 3: Planning
- What needs to be done now, and who is going to do it?
- For ASAP, we develop an “action plan” for each fiscal year answering those questions. From tabling to presentations, everything is planned far in advance.
- For COVID, this is our lawmakers and hospitals working diligently to lay out a plan of action to address this crisis head on.
Step 4: Implementation
- This is the act of performing prevention work. It’s the laws being put in place and the Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) being delivered every day.
Step 5: Evaluation
- Did what we do worked? This can be measured by new surveys or studying hospital records.
- While we do this every year (sometimes more frequently!) for ASAP, we aren’t here yet for COVID.
As you can see, there is a lot more that goes into prevention work than meets the eye. Keep this in mind as we all navigate COVID-19 and remember to give everyone a little grace.
Stay tuned for more blogs and fun quarantine activities coming to you on our website and social media!
