2026 Annual Conference, Agenda

Learn how a four-county health district established an Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) program to identify critical system gaps and translate findings into feasible, community-wide interventions via a dedicated Case Review Committee and Implementation Team.

Learn how to turn onboarding into a powerful first impression that will help create long-term employees. This session gives supervisors and team leaders practical tools to welcome new employees, build connection, and set clear expectations from day one. Discover simple, effective strategies to streamline onboarding, strengthen workplace culture, and boost retention. Walk away with tools and suggestions for creating a successful onboarding experience.

Generations of innovation and technological advancement have led to this moment: the Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution. How did we get here, and what do the different types of AI mean? This session will cover the history of AI as a catalyst for change, including the development of predictive and generative models. In public health, the power of AI has been harnessed to analyze grant reports, monitor disease surveillance data, and examine past disease outbreak response strategies to provide recommendations. Importantly, AI contributes a valuable proposition for reduction in labor costs and has already saved the CDC millions of dollars on labor and associated costs. However, with great power comes great risk. AI has many pitfalls, one of which being the generative model tendency to hallucinate. Further, data sharing and privacy risks coupled with unclear guidelines and expectations make information ownership and future usage obscure. With the delicate nature of the information with which public health works, as well as the far-reaching impacts of program and policy implementation, it is imperative to equip the public health workforce with the knowledge and skillset to ethically use AI tools. This session will provide the audience with foundational knowledge of the history and application of AI, as well as insight on ethical considerations for use by the public health workforce.

This presentation highlights Bullitt County's proactive, innovative, and collaborative approach to addressing the growing concern of vaping and drug use among students. Attendees will learn how a strong partnership between Bullitt County Public School District, our local mental health agency, and the Bullitt County Health Department demonstrates a shared commitment to student well-being. We will outline a comprehensive and unique intervention program developed not only to reduce vaping violations within our schools, but, more importantly, to equip students with the education, resources, and support they need to make healthier choices. Participants will learn about the strategies being implemented, the community resources being leveraged, and the positive outcomes already emerging from this collaborative effort. This session will provide valuable insights for educators, administrators, parents, and community stakeholders interested in effective prevention and intervention models that foster a safer, healthier learning environment for all students. We will outline a comprehensive intervention program designed not only to decrease vaping violations within our schools, but more significantly, to provide students and parents with crucial educational information. Explore the strategies being implemented, including drug testing in schools and the use of vape detectors, as well as the resources being utilized. Discover the positive impact the collaborative mission is having on creating a healthier and safer learning environment. Our program has successfully reduced drug, tobacco, and vaping violations by 40% and has supported students through in-school solutions, focusing on growth instead of punishment. This session will offer valuable insights for educators, administrators, parents, and community stakeholders interested in effective prevention and intervention models.

This presentation describes an interdisciplinary, mixed-methods approach to strengthening Community Health Assessments (CHAs) through collaborative infrastructure and intentional community engagement. The BRIGHT Coalition formed a Data and Survey Committee to guide the planning, implementation, and analysis of its regional assessment. The Committee brought together representatives from public health, healthcare systems, higher education, and community-based organizations, along with an external evaluation consultant.

The assessment incorporated 11 stakeholder interviews and one refugee focus group to get a deep understanding of issues facing specific groups within the community. Using a cross-sectional design, the Coalition administered a community health survey through convenience and targeted sampling across the 10-county Barren River Area Development District region, resulting in 1,783 completed surveys.

Results demonstrate that interdisciplinary collaboration enhanced participation and broadened representation across the region. The mixed-methods approach generated more nuanced and actionable insights, identifying mental health access, socioeconomic barriers, chronic disease management, and patient–provider communication as priority concerns. Stakeholder narratives further highlighted the need for expanded behavioral health services, culturally responsive care, and improved navigation of healthcare systems. Overall, the findings suggest that structured interdisciplinary collaboration paired with mixed methods produces richer data and offers a scalable model for strengthening CHA and CHIP development.

Lincoln Trail District Health Department is using Photovoice, a participatory visual storytelling method, to strengthen organizational planning and learning. Through photographs and group reflections, staff across departments explored their experiences in delivering public health services. The project invited staff to photograph moments that reflect both the challenges and strengths of delivering services. Through facilitated group discussions, participants explored questions such as, “What helps you carry out your public health role in the community?” and “What gets in the way?” The resulting stories offered a portrait of workforce resilience, collaboration, and the structural barriers impacting service delivery. Insights from this process will inform the agency’s strategic plan, Community Health Assessment (CHA), Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), workforce development, and quality improvement initiatives, creating a feedback loop between frontline experiences and organizational decision-making. Ultimately, the project shows that Photovoice is more than a storytelling exercise; it is a quality improvement tool that humanizes organizational learning and strengthens the alignment between staff experience, community voice, and strategic direction.

Academic–practice partnerships can transform workforce readiness and public health performance. This session presents new findings on Kentucky local health departments’ awareness, attitudes and practices related to the Academic Health Department (AHD) model followed by a real-world example of how state–university agreements are being used to strengthen partnerships across the commonwealth.

In the spirit of “Game On,” this session transforms AI from an intimidating boss battle into your secret weapon for public health success. We’ll start with a quick tutorial level, covering AI literacy, large language models, and prompt strategies, before moving into the ethics arena, where data privacy, bias mitigation, and equity checkpoints are our power-up shields. Next, you’ll see real-world “cheat codes” in action. Whether you’re a level-one novice or an AI master, you’ll leave ready to hit “Start” on AI-powered public health interventions that score big for Kentucky communities.

This qualitative study examines how people who inject drugs (clients) and Syringe Services Program (SSP) staff perceive the utility, effectiveness, and improvement needs of Kentucky’s extensive SSP network. Fifteen clients and ten staff across eight SSP sites participated in in-person interviews. Participants offered firsthand insight into motivations for ongoing SSP engagement and highlighted gaps in services. Centering client and staff voices, this study pinpoints operational strengths and actionable opportunities to enhance SSP delivery, strengthen Kentucky’s statewide SSP network, and inform national harm reduction strategies.

Childhood obesity is a major global public health issue with limited treatment options. The University of Kentucky Pediatric High BMI Clinic effectively addresses obesity by promoting healthy lifestyle habits. Although evidence suggests policies supporting healthy behaviors can reduce obesity rates, Kentucky lacks strong, practical policies that encourage such behaviors in children. Research suggests that environments promoting healthier dietary and physical activity patterns are essential. Schools are an ideal setting for implementing policies that shape healthy dietary and physical activity defaults. Replicating the UK Pediatric High BMI Clinic model in school environments through targeted policy changes could help address childhood obesity across Kentucky.

Discover how the Kentucky Health Departments Association is tackling outdated systems and building a modern, data-driven public health infrastructure. This session spotlights the statewide Data Inventory and Needs Assessment (DINA) initiative—uncovering challenges, best practices, and innovative solutions for streamlining data, improving access, and empowering staff. Join us to learn how the “DINA-saur” project is driving efficiency, collaboration, and continuous improvement across Kentucky’s public health landscape.

Discover how the Kentucky Health Departments Association is tackling outdated systems and building a modern, data-driven public health infrastructure. This session spotlights the statewide Data Inventory and Needs Assessment (DINA) initiative—uncovering challenges, best practices, and innovative solutions for streamlining data, improving access, and empowering staff. Join us to learn how the “DINA-saur” project is driving efficiency, collaboration, and continuous improvement across Kentucky’s public health landscape.

The University of Kentucky Center of Excellence in Rural Health, partnered with the Kentucky River District Health Department, is transforming the harm reduction workforce in eastern Kentucky by integrating Community Health Worker and Peer Support Specialist training to better support families affected by opioid use disorder. Grant-funded programs remove barriers such as training costs, transportation challenges, and certification hurdles, opening pathways for motivated residents to enter frontline roles. Through evidence-based instruction, experiential fieldwork, and supervised apprenticeships, participants build skills in harm reduction, care coordination, and family support. This session will explore how these programs build the rural public health and recovery workforce.

The University of Kentucky Harm Reduction Hub (UK HRH) is an initiative that brings together a team of public health professionals and community-based scientists and harm reductionists to provide early insights into Kentucky’s street drug supply by analyzing the residue in used syringes. While we are based at the University of Kentucky, the UK HRH is a community service first and foremost, aimed at providing information about the changing street drug supply to people who use drugs and the people/programs that serve them.

In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the UK HRH’s services, which are designed to expand and strengthen community-based harm reduction efforts and promote systemic change to support, not punish, people who use drugs. We will share trends in our findings over the past year and discuss real-time substances and emerging adulterants identified in Kentucky’s illicit drug supply.

This session highlights the challenges of disease modeling in data-starved jurisdictions. By presenting the methods and results of a predictive model targeting substance use disorder in Bullitt County, this session advocates for better data-sharing partnerships with healthcare partners and provides tools for improved use of free data.

Purchase District Health Department will present on their jail based and post incarceration peer support services and harm reduction program within the McCracken County Jail. This program utilizes a self-referral mechanism where incarcerated individuals receive peer support services within the jail and once released a network of partners is utilized to increase recovery capital through wrap-around services. Between December 2024 and November 2025 643 incarcerated people self-referred and 499 received peer support services within the jail. This program was funded by FY23 Comprehensive Opioid Stimulant and Substance Use Program.

The Kentucky Wastewater Surveillance System (KYWSS) is a valuable sentinel surveillance tool providing early warning (1-2 weeks) of spreading disease within a sewershed which is the population served by a specific wastewater treatment facility. KYWSS recently updated its dashboard. It is now faster, more robust and accessible! We will demonstrate the dashboard and its functionality, including public health action decision-making tree templates for readiness and response. Previously, KYWSS routinely published weekly updates on respiratory virus activity – first, on its KYWSS dashboard followed by an update to the NWSS dashboard, highlighted by a section on every Weekly Respiratory Virus Activity Update. The new KYWSS dashboard will put everything in one location with additional resources for readiness and response.

Public health action decision-making trees enable organizations to act on new information in accordance with community needs and standards. KYWSS has considered the metrics for each of the respiratory viruses, benchmarked other states, and created separate templates describing options for action. These templates are accessible through the new dashboard. We will provide an in-depth tutorial on using and customizing the templates for each of the respiratory viruses for your organization that set courses of action relative to wastewater signals.

This session presents findings of the Kentucky Birth Surveillance Registry’s (KBSR) 10 Year Report (2015-2024), covering Kentucky children aged 0 to 5 years. Come learn about KBSR, Kentucky’s state-mandated birth defects surveillance system, and the comprehensive data collected by the Registry. The focus will be on a recent report covering a decade of Kentucky births, including specific birth defects of interest, health factors associated with birth defects, and geographic/spatial trends. The session will conclude with ways to access and utilize birth defects data for public health practice and prevention.

Effective performance management is one of the most powerful drivers of workforce success in public health, yet supervisors often struggle with how to deliver meaningful feedback, document performance and conduct evaluations that truly reflect day-to-day work. Simple and adaptable coaching and development frameworks help supervisors provide clear, actionable feedback based on observable behaviors rather than assumptions, personality judgments or vague impressions. This session introduces public health leaders to modern coaching practices including: effective huddles, behavior-based observation and narrative writing skills that strengthen employee performance throughout the year. It presents a practical, evidence-informed framework that any Kentucky public health leader can apply to strengthen employee performance and organizational outcomes. Empower your supervisory toolkit with practical strategies to make performance evaluations meaningful, consistent and results-focused.

Cupcakes, confusion, and a multi-county mystery. This session reveals how persistent, high-quality patient interviews helped epidemiologists see past misleading clues and uncover the true sources behind two foodborne outbreaks.

The Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) is collaborating with Kentucky’s public health organizations and academic institutions to develop new initiatives, programs and plans to recruit, train and retain Kentucky’s current and future environmental health workforce. This work is being accomplished by a team of public health and academic professionals through a workgroup titled, “Environmental Health Career Pathways Workgroup”. The Kentucky Environmental Health Career Pathways session will highlight the partnerships, challenges, goals, objectives, accomplishments and new environmental health career pathways for high school students, college/university students and the current workforce.

During federally declared disasters, response efforts often rely on population-level data that overlook the needs of individuals with access and functional needs (AFN), undermining situational awareness and delaying equitable service delivery. Following multiple severe weather events in 2025, the Kentucky Department for Public Health identified a need for a rapid, practical way to communicate AFN-related demographic risks to response partners.

This session describes the development and use of county-level AFN Population Factsheets to support response operations under federal disaster declarations. Built using standardized, publicly available data—primarily the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey—the fact sheets focus on counties approved for Individual Assistance. Indicators include age, disability type, limited English proficiency, lack of household vehicle access, and chronic health conditions relevant to emergency response. Each fact sheet pairs clear data summaries with concise interpretive guidance to inform decisions on transportation, sheltering, medical continuity, and accessible communication.

Participants will learn how these standardized, easy-to-disseminate products improved cross-agency coordination, reduced ad hoc data requests, and supported more inclusive response planning. The session will conclude with recommendations for replicating this scalable, equity-centered approach and with future directions for automation, preparedness, and recovery planning.