CHNA 15

CHNA 15 Community Health Assessment

At the September 30th General Meeting the CHNA 15 Community Health Assessment Advisory Board (AAB) reported on their work during the summer and shared plans for activities to take place during the coming months. The purpose of the assessment is to identify priority areas for CHNA 15 projects in the future and to provide information on community needs for use by member agencies. The time frame for this project (6 months) and the 12-town CHNA 15 target area made it necessary to define and limit the scope of the assessment.

The list of health indicators by which to gauge a community’s health are many, and individual community needs vary.  To aid in this understanding, demographic profiles are being developed for each of the 12 towns. In addition to these demographic profiles, through implementation of a two-step process the Board narrowed the indicator focus to select three areas of concern for more in depth research: Mental Health, Public Safety, and Healthy Foods. 

Next steps are to gather information from each community on these topics, and to expand the number of CHNA members who are either participating on the AAB or getting involved with data collection and review.  We are in need of people who work in the areas of mental health, public safety and food and nutrition, and we are also in need of representatives from the towns who are not currently represented on the AAB: Boxborough, Littleton, Winchester, and Wilmington.

You are invited to attend AAB meetings which are held the second Wednesday of the month from 9:30 – 11:30 at the Lincoln Public Library, easily accessible from Rts. 2 and 128.  Our next meetings are scheduled for November 10 and December 8.  Please let Jan Hanson know if you plan to attend. (jhanson800@aol.com)

Other ways to participate are:

Town Profilers: People are needed to review the collected information for each town to develop our understanding of its issues.  Whether you are a resident or work within a community, you will likely have insights that provide perspective. We also need people to read the profiles to determine if they properly reflect the nature of the community.  We also can use help writing town profiles, using a common template,

Make Connections:  Do you have contacts in your community who can fill in a survey, host a meeting, or be interviewed, or connect us to others affected by the priority issues?  Please let us know who we should be taking to, or if you can help with interviews and meetings, let us know that too.  If your agency is holding a meeting at which we can share this project and connect to resources, please invite us!

Share Your Data:  Many of your workplaces collect statistics that are relevant to our study.  If you are willing to share program data and reports from within the past 3 or so years, please let us know. 

Come to the CHNA 15 General Meeting on September 30th to learn more about the assessment process, share information on your community and consider participation in some of the upcoming activities as this important assessment develops. Opportunities are many and varied.  Your understanding about the best ways to hear from those working on these issues and from those affected by them will enhance the quality of our understanding and the success of our efforts. 

 For more information or to sign up for this exciting committee contact Jan Hanson, CHNA 15 Coordinator, at jhanson800@aol.com. We need your input.