The partnership calls itself "the coordinating hub" that connects the community to various health organizations. Together, these organizations provide people with health information and experiences so that they can make healthy choices.

Supik's own philosophy on health mirrors the aim of the organization she leads, she said.

"I generally tell people that health happens in our community," she said. "Heath care happens in our hospitals and doctors offices and pharmacies. So care is different than health."

Q: As the executive director what is your aim or focus?

A: My personal aim for this partnership is to make sure that we are inclusive of the concerns and issues in the whole county. I'd also say that I'm interested in measurable results for the efforts that all of the partners are putting into our community. I want to make sure that we're involving young people, old people, married people, single people, everyone. We want to make it inclusive.

Q: What are some particular health challenges facing Carroll County?

A: Obesity, weight-related issues and a lack of physical activity - you could say sedentary lifestyles.

Tobacco use among young adults. It's a bigger problem for our county than in the whole state of Maryland.

Behavioral issues, by that I mean substance abuse and mental abuse issues, interpersonal violence are issues. Access to health care for people who are resource challenged: I don't limit that to what your usual definition of poor is. Many, many employed people are not able to get health insurance these days.

Q: What are some things that partnership has done to address these challenges?

A: This past June, we published something called "Rising to the Challenge: You can build a healthier life" and distributed 9,000 copies of it throughout the community. It states statistics on current data on tobacco, nutrition and exercise and activity that is happening in our community.

We have formed numerous partnerships among lots of different organizations on many issues. We are currently working with the Domestic Violence Council and the Clothesline project. We are developing the Clothesline project and we will be showing that lots of places around the county. We've worked with our partners to get Volunteer Carroll established.

We've done a lot of great things that I'm proud of, but we haven't done it [alone]. When I say we, I mean the partners involved, what we've done has been a facilitator of and an information provider for. It's all about bringing people together from various organizations around a common goal. That's what we do.

Q: What are new projects that the Partnership is planning to work on?

A: We're working with clergy in Carroll County to identify [how] we can expand their knowledge about cancer, recognizing that many people, when they get a diagnosis of cancer, turn to their clergy for advice or to help them to make difficult decisions.

Clergy may not understand the terminology, they may never have seen a cancer treatment center, they may not know what radiation does, the names of doctors. We'll try to provide clergy with information about cancer, so they'll be more comfortable in their role as a resource to their clergy. We kind of do things through and with other people all the time.

Q: What are some long-term goals for this organization?

A: I guess that my executive council board would say that we want to maintain the wonderful spirit of Carroll County, the tradition of people caring about each other and reaching out for each other, the strong sense of community values and parents engaged with their children. We want to do whatever we can to help preserve and encourage that. Recognizing that we're a growing and constantly changing community.

The second would be empowerment of individual responsibility. That you can't wait for someone to do something.

So the empowerment of individual responsibility, which many will tell you is a long-term traditional value in this community - strong people who worked the land and took care of their families and all that. But in modern 2004 that empowerment means something different: it just means that you recognize the power that you have as an individual for your health and the health of your community.

Q: Do you believe that Carroll County is lacking or in desperate need of specific services?

A: I think that services for families with problems with their children, and by that I mean behavioral problems or getting the kinds of mental health services, that are for complicated issues, I think we are challenged in that area. I think we're challenged in the area of substance abuse, in terms of treatment. We have wonderful prevention things happening, and they're making a difference, but we need more treatment programs available.

In the area of senior services, I think our population is aging. The number of people that are aging is quickly going to tax available resources. I would say after-school care and mentoring programs are needed.

People who are traveling an hour and a half on each end of an eight- to nine-hour day - they just aren't there. And so we need good positive and attractive things for young people to do - I'm not talking day care, I'm talking things for middle schoolers and higher schoolers to do in free time.

Q: What are three steps that people can take to start bettering their health?

A: Believe that you are responsible and that you can do something about it.