Before decisions can be made about implementing a community health assessment, a plan must be prepared to clarify the purpose and methods of the assessment and to determine the stakeholders and their roles.

For this Discussion, review the Resources. Think about not only who should be engaged in the planning but also why they should be involved. Review the media titled Planning a Community Assessment. Consider how the organizations featured selected and engaged stakeholders in their planning. Think who they invited to include in their planning, and reflect on why. Based upon this information, consider one of the two following scenarios for your Discussion:

Scenario 1:

Imagine that you are a public health professional. A county health department has contracted with you to conduct a community health assessment focused specifically on health promotion through physical exercise. The head of the health department has a list of people who should be present at the planning meeting. You notice that they are all representatives of local government agencies.

Scenario 2:

Imagine that you are a community liaison for a government health agency. You have been given the task of planning an assessment on airborne health problems. Your supervisor tells you to invite the board of a local factory that emits toxic fumes to the planning meetings. Your supervisor says that these stakeholders are the only ones who need to be involved in the initial plan before the more formal community health assessment takes place.

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 4 the number of the scenario you selected and your rationale for why it is important to include community stakeholders in this community health planning scenario. Then, describe at least three additional groups that might be appropriate to include in the planning for this community health assessment and explain why you would include these stakeholders and not others.