Summary of Community Needs Assessment

Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital conducted a Community Needs Assessment in 2004 as required by Act 53.

 The completed Community Needs Assessment and ongoing community feedback are important tools for the NVRH Senior Management Team and the NVRH Board of Trustees as they plan for future services at the hospital. In this way, the assessment process allowed us to directly engage the community in the strategic planning process of the hospital.

 The Community Assessment for Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital was completed on January 1, 2005. The assessment will be updated on January 1, 2007, and the next complete assessment will be done on January 1, 2009.

The qualitative assessment tools used to gather information for this assessment were a short written survey, a focus forum of key community leaders, and an open public meeting

Two hundred and twenty-two NVRH Corporators representing the towns in the NVRH service area and the medical staff, were given a written survey. The same survey was sent to the entire membership of the Lyndon Chamber of Commerce (96 members). Fifty home health clients were chosen at random and were given the survey by their home health visiting nurses.

Thirty-one key community leaders were invited to attend a focus forum at NVRH. Sixteen leaders representing a wide range of agencies and town government attended the forum, including those representing schools, mental health, substance abuse, elder issues, and corrections.

The quantitative data shown in the tables in the community assessment were compiled by the Vermont Department of Health and formatted by the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.

As we have in the past, NVRH will continually review quantitative data as it is updated by the Vermont Department of Health. We also review U.S. Census data, Community Profiles prepared by the Vermont Agency of Human Services, Primary Care Surveys prepared by the Northeastern Vermont AHEC, health care coverage information prepared by BISHCA, the Quality Report prepared by the Vermont Program for Quality Health Care, labor market data prepared by the State of Vermont, Community Profiles, and other local, state, and national data available in print and on the web.

NVRH held two community meetings in 2003, one in 2004, and will continue to hold open public meetings at least annually, and as interest in specific healthcare issues arise.

We also give and get input on a continual basis by participation from our staff in ongoing committee and board meetings, events, and activities of local organizations including Umbrella, Inc., Northeast Kingdom Human Services, Area Agency on Aging, the Community Coordinating Council, Northeast Kingdom Youth Services, Rotary, Area Health Education Center, Chamber of Commerce, Northern Counties Health Care, schools, and many more. Representatives from many of these same organizations also serve on NVRH committees.

The NVRH 2004 Public Meeting was held at NVRH on November 8, 2004. Representatives from local government, schools, health organizations, mental health agencies, and social service agencies were invited through direct contact at regularly scheduled committee meetings. In addition, notice of the public meeting was posted in the Caledonian-Record. Advertisements also appeared on the front page of the Caledonian-Record. Public service announcements of the meeting were sent to area newspapers, radio stations, and cable access television. The Lyndon State College Television News Team attended the meeting and covered it on their broadcast on Channel 7.

The meeting was facilitated by Paul Bengtson, CEO of NVRH, and comments were recorded by Laural Ruggles, Director of Marketing and Community Outreach. Attendees were given a general description of the Act 53 Community Assessment process and objectives. They were also given an outline of general healthcare issues and asked to identify healthcare priorities for the community, for themselves, and for their families.

Ongoing public comment on community needs will be obtained by an open public meeting held at least annually, and by ongoing NVRH staff participation on committees and boards of area agencies and organizations, as well as inclusion by representatives of area agencies and organizations, and community members on NVRH committees and the Board of Trustees.

Through the surveys and meetings, the community told us there is limited or no access to specific services. Those serves mentioned most often were eye care for Medicaid recipients, dental care for adults with low incomes, dialysis, radiation oncology treatments, orthopedic services, mental health services for children, mental health medication management for adults, and medical detox for opiate addiction.

Education and prevention initiatives for “lifestyle” issues, including tobacco and substance abuse, diabetes, and obesity, were identified as a high priority in our community.

Access to specialty healthcare services were most often mentioned as a “distance” issue. People in our community desire specialty services close to home.

Economic issues- poverty, lack of transportation, cost of health care, cost of health insurance premiums and co-pays – also inhibit access to care, and were identified as the root cause for many of the physical health, mental health, and substance abuse problems in the community.

Updates to the NVRH Community Needs Assessment will be posted on the hospital’s web site www.nvrh.org. To request a copy of the NVRH Community Needs Assessment contact:

Laural Ruggles
Director of Marketing and Community Outreach
802-748-7590
l.ruggles@nvrh.org