Hospitals assessing area’s health needs

BY TIMOTHY LAROCHE
[email protected]
UNITY — Several local hospitals have begun collecting data about area health needs.

Every three years, Valley Regional Healthcare, New London Hospital, Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center are required to study area medical needs to develop a Community Health Assessment.

The process kicked off once again this month with the launch of a survey asking area resident’s public health-related questions.

The survey can be found on New London Hospital’s website. Results are used by area healthcare providers to prioritize services.

With current models of public health research taking into consideration various facets of life — from physical and emotional well-being to economic and spiritual health — the questions are broad. According to an explanation of the survey, the questions were developed from previous health assessments.

Questions cover such topics as the perceived prevalence of substance misuse, access to healthy food, cost of prescription drugs and access to public transportation.

Previous community health assessments were released in 2015, following months of similar data collection methods like surveys, stakeholder interviews and demographic research.

Valley Regional Hospital’s report published on June 29, 2015, found that misuse of alcohol and drugs was considered a top issue survey respondents — with 44 percent of responses indicating that substance abuse recovery programs were an important area of focus.

“While different age groups were more similar than different in their responses overall, ‘Alcohol and Drug Misuse’ including heroin and misuse of pain medications were selected more frequently by respondents in younger age groups as important issues compared to older respondents,” the

report said.

Similarly, substance abuse was considered “an epidemic” during community discussion group sessions.

While other such issues such as access to mental health care were rated as high priorities in interviews with community stakeholders and leaders, survey responses did not rate the issue as highly — highlighting a divide between community and professional perceptions of the issue and its impact.

The report also found that health issues in community with higher median incomes tended to focus on affordability and access to services while communities with a lower median income saw greater effects of substance misuse.

“The correlation between economic prosperity and good health status is well established,” the report said. “Inversely, the lack of economic prosperity, or poverty, can be associated with barriers to accessing health services, healthy food, and healthy physical environments that contribute to good health.”

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