PRESS RELEASES
Community Health Needs Assessment
Diabetes, elderly care cited in Lahey
survey
By Steven Fletcher Staff Writer
The Gloucester Daily Times. Gloucester, MA
Overall, residents of Cape Ann's communities are healthy and
have access to a solid health service network.
But making sure residents, especially low-income and elderly
residents can access it is a central concern raised in Lahey Health
System's community health needs assessment.
The initial assessment, one required of all Massachusetts
hospitals and hospital corporations every three years, found that
chronic disease, behavioral health issues, and elder care are the
foremost health concerns on Cape Ann. Communities, according to the
assessment, have strong health service networks - including Addison
Gilbert Hospital, and human service agencies like the Open
Door.
The hospital's consulting firm, John Snow Inc., will hold
community forums on the assessment results this week. Gloucester's
is at 5:30 p.m. today at the Gloucester House Restaurant; the
hospital will also hold one on Thursday at the Rockport Community
House, again at 5:30 p.m.
Making sure residents have access to health services through
Addison Gilbert Hospital or primary care practices, like the
Gloucester Family Health Center, is the key challenge presented by
the assessment, said Gerald MacKillop, who managed the initial
assessment for Lahey Health System, the new nonprofit corporation
forged from the merger of Lahey Clinic and Northeast Health
Systems, parent company of Addison Gilbert Hospital.
"The hospital and community will have to work together,"
MacKillop said, "this isn't something the hospital can do
alone."
The three-year needs assessment took 48 weeks to carry out, and
cost $135,000, said MacKillop.
That assessment, howeverm is not the same as the one still to
come - one that the Department of Public Health mandated as part of
Lahey Health Systems merger, he said.
The initial assessment used hospital data and a survey sent out
to residents, with 52 percent of those who received the survey
responding.
That survey, said MacKillop, found that chronic diseases
especially diabetes, are a primary concern.
More than 15 percent of those surveyed said they have diabetes -
more than double the state average of 7.4 percent. While the area's
obesity, heart disease and cancer rates were at state averages,
MacKIlliop said 28 percent of those surveyed said they didn't
regularly exercise.
Overall, Cape Ann communities are healthy, as compared to other
municipalities. MacKillop said the area has a substantial health
service network and most of the population has health
insurance.
But, he added, the community has to do more to keep low income
residents and the elderly from falling through cracks in that
network.
"We need to do a better job of providing the resources residents
need to access that care," MacKillop said.
Steven Fletcher may be contacted at 1-978-283-7000 x3455, or sfletcher@gloucestertimes.com.
Follow him on Twitter at @stevengdt.