LRGH and Partners publish 2020 community health needs assessment

LACONIA — LRGHealthcare, The Partnership for Public Health, Central New Hampshire VNA & Hospice and HealthFirst Family Care Center announces the release of the 2020 Community Health Needs Assessment. This assessment conducted every three years helps to identify major health concerns, analyze community health needs and helps to create a plan for working on unmet needs in our community. Technical support for the assessment was provided by the Community Health Institute/JSI.

Several methods were used to gather the information in the assessment including an online survey of community residents, a direct email survey of community leaders representing multiple community sectors; a set of three community discussion groups; and a review of available population demographics and health status indicators.

Respondents to both the community leader and general community resident surveys were asked to select the top five most pressing health needs or issues in the community from a list of 22 topics. Affordability of health insurance and health care costs, along with the related issue of prescription drug costs, were top issues identified by community respondents. Other top concerns identified by community survey respondents were availability of mental health services, substance use prevention and treatment, and availability of primary care services.

We are grateful to have had the response from community leaders and members to provide critical insight to the needs of our communities. We look forward to using these results as a compass that will continue to support the community.

If you are interested in reading the complete Community Health Needs Assessment report, it is available at www.lrgh.org and on the websites of the other partnering organizations. For a hard copy of the report, please call 603-527-2948.