Buffalo County Community Partners is working to develop a another public health policy as part of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Health Policy Academy. Last year, Executive Director Denise Zwiener and Health HUB Coordinator Jessie Perez were part of a team that wrote a policy regarding community health workers. Their policy went on to help form legislative bill 1051. This year, Positive Pressure Coordinator Tana Nelsen is working with a team to develop a position regarding marijuana legalization.
The group’s position takes aim at marijuana legalization, a growing trend across the country.
“The Health Policy Academy happened to line up perfectly with the direction Positive Pressure was headed,” said Nelsen. “The coalition has been discussing the creation of a position paper on marijuana use, as it is one of the main substances the coalition focuses on, and legalization has become a hot-button issue over the past few years.”
Core team members include Heather Easton of Two Rivers Public Health Department, Myra Stoney of Southwest Public Health Department, and Tammy Herskowitz of Southwest Public Health Department. They will also be assisted by members from the Buffalo County Youth Advisory Board and the Northeast Colorado Health Department.
The Nebraska Health Policy Academy seeks to strengthen policy development and advocacy for the public’s health through engaging state, local, and tribal health leaders and their key partners in a competency-based training initiative using collaborative leadership and action learning approaches.