For eighteen months, a broad coalition representing Middlesex County worked to produce this county health needs assessment with a focus on chronic disease. The initiative is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Community Transformation Grant project here in Connecticut. Through oversight from the Connecticut Department of Public Health and Chatham Health District as project lead and grant fiduciary, the assessment reviewed demographics, health indicators,
health disparities, and health assets, and performed a policy and environmental scan. The work products of this effort are the County Community Health Needs Assessment Report, which includes a selection of strategic priorities and a Community Health Action Plan, which aligns Middlesex strategic priorities with four other rural counties in Connecticut engaged in the same process.
At the core of the assessment is use of the CDC CHANGE Tool. CHANGE identifies five Sectors: Community at Large, Community Institution/Organization, Health Care, Schools, and Work Site, with a process to consider both policy and environmental assets and needs. Specific attention is placed on policies that address key focus areas: tobacco free living, active living and healthy eating, social and emotional wellness, healthy and safe physical environment, and high quality clinical and other
preventive services.
In review of the data, coalition membership selected strategies, taking into account public and political will, cost-effectiveness, feasibility of implementation, likelihood of success, scalability, and long-term impact. These are sustainable approaches that can be readily adopted across sectors by municipalities and many other agencies and organizations.
The Middlesex County Coalition on Community Wellness proposes the following prioritized strategies:
1. Identify quality clinical preventive service protocol for management of patients who are identified with hypertension
2. Prevent and reduce tobacco use through tobacco free policies in public places
3. Improve the availability of affordable healthy foods
4. Focus on opportunities for regular physical activity in schools
Document:
middlesex_hospital.pdf
