Olmsted County Public Health Services awarded funding to improve regional data and epidemiology

Olmsted County Public Health Services (OCPHS) is receiving a $388,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Infrastructure Fund to support data and epidemiology capabilities.

The funding will help OCPHS better serve the region in planning, data analysis, and epidemiology. The award is part of an effort by MDH to strengthen public health infrastructure in the state. OCPHS looks forward to using this funding to gather and share more information and data at a regional level.

"This grant will help us further our mission of protecting and promoting the health of all people in Olmsted County," said OCPHS Director Denise Daniels. "Strengthening data systems regionally will provide better surveillance of emerging issues while also allowing the opportunity to collaborate with regional partners."

With the funding, OCPHS will explore methods to share resources with other jurisdictions within the region to understand better what is happening outside Olmsted County.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that living outside one county doesn't mean you won't be affected by what is happening in a neighboring jurisdiction," Daniels said. "Additional information and data at a regional level will help us make better data-driven decisions."

OCPHS will be able to look at data from other counties and compare it to local information to discern to what level a disease outbreak or other threat is an issue.

The MDH infrastructure grant also benefits Olmsted County's neighbors by providing public health departments and other health care partners in southeastern Minnesota with real-time access to regional data.

"We are grateful to the Minnesota Department of Health for their investment in our department,” Daniels said. "Having a regional approach to information sharing will provide us with richer data to help us best understand what is truly happening in our community."

OCPHS plans to identify pilot projects to build out its data and epidemiology capabilities by late September. Rollout of the pilot projects should occur by the end of the year.