Forum looks at community health needs data

By Stuart Hedstrom

Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Earlier this year the Maine Shared Health Needs Assessment and Planning Process (SHNAPP) spent several months analyzing data, including an online stakeholder survey, to devise a 2015 Shared Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) for Piscataquis County. During a community forum on Nov. 12 at the Mill Event Space, the shared CHNA was presented with data pertaining to both the state and Piscatquis County and those present then worked on the next step by identifying resources to address the health needs specified.

“The overall goal is to turn data into action and create the healthiest Maine possible,” said Mayo Regional Hospital President and CEO Marie Vienneau during the forum opening remarks.

“We have four phases to our project, it takes a lot of time,” Maine SHNAPP Project Director Jayne Harper said about the data collection and analysis, needs assessment reporting, community engagement and health improvement plans.

The comprehensive data for Piscataquis County included the biggest health issues for the region. Seventy-two percent of responders identified obesity and depression as two major or critical problems in the area, followed by drug and alcohol abuse, 70 percent; respiratory diseases, 69 percent; and mental health, 67 percent. The biggest factors leading to poor health were poverty with 83 percent of responders identifying this factor; employment, 75 percent; transportation, 72 percent; food security, 63 percent; and housing stability, 62 percent.

“The numbers are only part of the story, each one of you has the lived experience here,” Harper said as those present have seen evidence of the health problems and factors. “What do these numbers mean to you, either in your personal life or your professional life?”

The forum then had participants break up into groups to spend time considering the topics of obesity, depression and drug and alcohol abuse. Those sitting around the four tables were tasked with brainstorming the current resources in place to address these health issues, what resources are needed, barriers that can affect treatments and where to go from there — what agencies or organizations can provide leadership to assure the next steps are taken.

The various comments from the groups will be incorporated into a larger database and will be posted at www.maine.gov/SHNAPP/.