PORTLAND, Maine – Stakeholders from across Maine are invited to share their priorities for community health needs with the region’s health care organizations during a series of forums beginning next week.
MaineHealth, Northern Light Health, Central Maine Healthcare and MaineGeneral Health have partnered to create the Maine Shared Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) with additional support from the ME CDC. CHNA is a snapshot of issues impacting population and community health and is made up of a series of county health profiles including 210 data points that describe health outcomes, health behaviors, healthcare access and quality, and the social, community and physical environments that affect our health. The community forums, taking place between September and November, are an opportunity for members of the public to share their views on which health needs hospitals and public health agencies should focus on in the coming years. Previous forums were held in 2018 and 2015.
“These forums open the door for discussions about how we can work together so our communities are the healthiest in America,” said Dora Anne Mills, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Health Improvement Officer at MaineHealth. “We want community members to see the data and share their perspectives on what they see as our biggest health issues. The presentations will also address past priorities and the work that we and our partners have done in relation to those identified areas of focus.”
These forums are held virtually on Zoom. To learn more or reserve a spot for the Greater Portland area forum on Oct. 5 from 4-6 p.m. or the Lakes Region area forum on Oct. 26 from 4:30-6:30 p.m., visit: https://www.mainehealth.org/Healthy-Communities/Community-Health-Needs-Assessment
In addition to collecting input on local health priorities, the forum will also collect information about local resources that could help to address those priorities. Forums and other community feedback will be used as guidance to create hospital-specific health improvement plans in the spring of 2022.
For additional information, including forum schedules, County Health Profiles and a portal for users to create their own data reports, go to the Maine Shared CHNA website: www.mainechna.org.
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About Maine Medical Center
Maine Medical Center (MMC), recognized as a Best Regional Hospital by U.S. News and World Report for 2020-2021, is a complete health care resource for the people of Greater Portland and the entire state, as well as northern New England. Incorporated in 1868, MMC is the state’s largest medical center, licensed for 637 beds and employing more than 9,600 people. MMC's unique role as both a community hospital and a referral center requires an unparalleled depth and breadth of services, including an active educational program and a world-class biomedical research center. As a nonprofit institution, Maine Medical Center provides nearly 23 percent of all the charity care delivered in Maine. MMC is part of the MaineHealth system, a growing family of health care services in northern New England. For more information, visit www.mmc.org.