DHEC
Strategic
Plan
Vision
Healthy people living in healthy communities
Mission
To improve the quality of life for all South Carolinians by protecting and promoting the health of the public and the environment
Core Values
Non-negotiables of our Agency character, defining how we interact with others, shaping our decision processes, and guiding our organizational beliefs about how we achieve our mission
Embracing Service:
We embrace our responsibility to reliably serve our communities, our customers and each other in a respectful manner, relying upon clear and uncompromised commitments to integrity, trust, dependability, and responsiveness.
Inspiring Innovation:
We encourage and empower our teams to find creative solutions to promote and protect the health of the public and the environment.
Promoting Teamwork:
We foster an inclusive and collaborative environment, valuing the diversity of thoughts, experience and expertise of every team member, our stakeholders and our communities.
Pursuing Excellence:
We are steadfast in our commitment to the highest achievable standards of quality and professionalism in our pursuit of healthy people living in healthy communities.
Agency Strategies
Five strategic focus areas, the imperatives that unite our teams, align our work, and enable our Agency to move forward in our ambitious mission.
Education and Engagement:
Engage our team members, stakeholders, and communities by providing them access to relevant and timely information and education to improve quality of life and health outcomes.
Agency Awareness:
Grow and develop DHEC teammates' knowledge and familiarity of Agency teams, practices, and services in order to position DHEC teammates to better serve our stakeholders and communities.
Share Knowledge:
Expand the reach and benefit of our experience and expertise through publications, speaking engagements, teaching opportunities, and media relations.
Information Access:
Leverage new technologies to increase accessibility and timeliness of health and environmental information to both internal and external customers.
Inform Public Policy:
Provide timely and relevant facts, knowledge, and insights to public officials and other policy makers.
Public Outreach:
Promote awareness of the Agency’s health and environmental information, educational resources and services within the communities we serve.
Science in Action:
Utilize sound science, quality data, and analytical processes to make fully informed, well-reasoned decisions that instill trust and confidence in the Agency’s expertise and decision making capabilities.
Informed Decision Making:
Ensure technical and scientific data is readily accessible for use in making sound, informed, and objective decisions.
Ongoing Technical Training:
Implement a training program to ensure teams are kept current on specialized knowledge and developments in their fields of expertise.
Evidence-Based Practice:
Apply current research to promote the use of evidence-based best practices and continuous improvement in our programs and services.
External Expertise:
Engage external experts to inform critical decision making and analytical processes.
Leadership and Collaboration:
Collaborate with our partners, contribute expertise, and lead efforts to establish a strong public health system that advances health and environmental protection on a state, regional, and national level.
Champion Collaboration:
Expand and engage our partners in communities, academia, government, and business to collectively improve health and environmental outcomes.
Contribute to the Profession:
Contribute public health and environmental expertise to the community through active participation in state and national organizations, conferences, and committees.
Promote Health and Environmental Equity:
Support efforts to improve health for all people by promoting equal protection from health and environmental risks and equal access to health and environmental services.
Lead from Within:
Serve as a model for best practices in public health by promoting and implementing initiatives to improve and sustain the health and well-being of our teammates and our environment.
Service and Accessibility:
Facilitate access to and delivery of dependable, timely, professional, and culturally appropriate services to meet the needs of communities and our partners.
Customer Focus:
Adopt a customer-focused mindset by employing policies, procedures, training, and measurements that reinforce the importance of delivering services in a professional, culturally appropriate manner.
Service Enhancement:
Improve customer and partner experience through enhanced online services, process improvement and innovation goals that improve customer service delivery, training, policies, and practices.
Operational Continuity:
Implement plans, policies, and procedures to ensure access and delivery of critical Agency services during emergency situations, information system failure, or staff turnover.
Service Access:
Employ strategies to ensure cost-effective, sustainable and available environmental and health services to the communities.
Operational Excellence:
Develop our people, strengthen our processes, and invest in our technology to support a high-performance organization and a culture of continuous improvement.
Preferred Employer:
Maximize the job satisfaction of current teams, provide new internal and external continuing education opportunities, utilize partnerships with academic institutions, and provide an efficient and welcoming recruitment and onboarding process for new and future team members.
Technology Modernization:
Streamline and modernize the Agency’s application portfolio, and increase the capacity and reliability of our IT infrastructure to better support the teams and strengthen Agency performance.
Facility Improvement:
Ensure workspaces for our teams across the state are functional, safe, clean, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly.
Process Improvement:
Foster a culture of continuous improvement by streamlining, improving, and automating critical processes across the Agency.