Our Community Health Initiatives

Information is provided to communities through social media, radio shows, public service announcements, educational materials, local events, and billboards.

Knowledge and skills of staff and community members are enhanced through retailer education, outreach, coalition building, webinars, training, and workshops such as racial and LGBTQ+ equity, trauma, adverse child and community experiences, and resiliency.

Opportunities for activities that strengthen youth resilience are provided across WYN’s programming such as evidence-based mentoring, after-school, summer camp, and youth advocacy and leadership. Staff recruit, hire, and train Youth Advocates from Watauga High School to build the capacity of their peers to address substance use issues and provide alternative activities that enhance protective factors such as healthy coping skills. 

Improving systems and processes to increase the ease, ability, and opportunity to support an equitably safe and healthful community is essential to Community Health work. Home medication lock boxes are distributed throughout communities with support from the NC Lock Your Meds campaign, designed to increase awareness among parents/caregivers about proper use, storage, and disposal of prescription medications. The Talk it Up. Lock it Up! initiative is utilized to ensure alcohol is monitored and securely locked at home, including youth and family involvement through education and advocacy. Through partnerships with local law enforcement, Boone Drug Pharmacy, Appalachian State University, and Project Lazarus of Wilkes, permanent medication drop boxes are located throughout Watauga County to provide community-wide access to safe medication disposal to prevent diversion and opioid misuse.

Through communication and media collaboration, local businesses and retailers are publicly recognized for their hard work and positive outcomes with regards to training staff, requesting proper identification, and preventing youth access to alcohol, tobacco and nicotine-containing products such as e-cigarettes, vapes, and Juul’s.

Prevention strategies such as ensuring proper alcohol and tobacco/vape retailer signage and tobacco/e-cig/vape-free school campus signage are used to change the structure of the community environment in order to prevent youth access, reduce risk, and enhance safety.

Staff work to support inter and intra-policy initiatives to address substance use prevention, the social determinants of health, equity, trauma, and teleworking. WYN Community Health staff work with local school systems to review and improve school substance use policies and follow-up services for students. Staff also work with the North Carolina Alcohol Policy Alliance in supporting the state alcohol monitoring system.