DARKE COUNTY — The Darke County General Health District is pleased to announce that the organization has achieved national accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) by demonstrating that it meets the highest standards for delivering quality programs and services to its community.

National public health accreditation sets consistent standards against which the nation’s approximately 3,000 state, tribal, local, and territorial public health departments can continuously work to improve the quality of their services and performance. Accreditation by PHAB signifies that a health department is meeting those standards to provide essential public health services in the community.

To receive accreditation, a health department must undergo a rigorous, multifaceted, peer-reviewed assessment process to ensure it meets or exceeds a specific set of quality standards and measures. This assessment process provides valuable, measurable feedback to health departments on their strengths and areas for improvement. Standards address 12 domains of performance and span activities such as community health assessment, surveillance, investigation, health education, enforcement, policy development, emergency response planning, workforce development, quality improvement, and health department management and administration.

“This process occurred over several years and involved many community members and agencies. I wish to thank all of them and my entire staff for all their hard work,” said Darke County Health Commissioner Terrence Holman.