Cottonwood-Jackson-Nobles County Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP)

MDH SHIP Program

Minnesota Statewide Health Improvement Partnership Portal

Des Moines Valley Health & Human Services and Nobles County Community Services are pleased to announce Cottonwood-Jackson-Nobles County Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP). SHIP is a program that addresses health prevention initiatives within Cottonwood, Jackson and Nobles Counties.

Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in Schools

We work alongside school staff to create permanent changes in lunchrooms and offer opportunities for physical activity in area schools.

Health Eating and Physical Activity in Communities

From creating community Active Living Plans for communities to develop community gardens to create healthy food access, we offer assistance and funding to encourage communities to stay active and have access to healthy foods.

Worksite Wellness

We partner with local employers to promote creation of healthier worksites for employees through changes in policies, systems, and environments. Areas of focus include nutrition, physical activity, tobacco cessation/exposure, breast-feeding support, and mental health/well-being support.

Commercial Tobacco-Free Living

Commercial tobacco-free living allows us to work with:

  • Smoke-Free Housing: multi-unit housing managers and tenants to implement smoke-free policies and promote tobacco cessation, with the goal of preventing/reducing secondhand smoke exposure. 
  • Point of Sale: we work with cities or counties to make stronger tobacco ordinances to prevent youth access to commercial tobacco products. A comprehensive approach though policy, education, and enforcement of the retail environment will help reduce the impact of tobacco availability.  
  • Tobacco-Free/Smoke-Free Outdoors: we work with cities or counties to implement smoke-free parks/recreation areas to reduce secondhand smoke exposure.

Community – Clinical Linkages

We partner with healthcare settings and community-based organizations to increase clinic-community linkages for equitable access to health care prevention services with the goal of implementing evidence-based programs; examples of programs include tobacco cessation, diabetes prevention program, pediatric and/or adult obesity, breastfeeding support, healthy food prescription, chronic disease self-management, falls prevention, and dementia awareness and support.

Building Healthier Communities Together