Partners for a Healthier Community

2014-2019 Community Needs and Assets Assessment

Needs and Assets Assessment

Every five years, Greater Fall River Partners for a Healthier Community, Inc. (Partners) conducts a community-wide health needs and assets assessment upon which an Action Plan for the following five-year period is built. The process occurred first in 2004 with the creation of the Healthy City Fall River initiative that used a citywide survey to create the first five-year Action Plan for the City. It was enlarged again in 2009 with the addition of the Mass In Motion initiative that shifted to a focus on system, policy and environmental changes to support healthier lifestyles.

The next Action Planning Process began in September 2013 with the designation of eight short-term Task Forces mobilized around a subset of issues related to the health of the community. These groups of between five and twenty people will be convened to review the available data on both needs and assets and will then be asked to come up with a list of no more than ten recommendations, listed in order of priority. Separate meetings will be held with representatives of the three towns of Somerset, Swansea and Westport as well as with representatives of populations who at greater risk.

These lists will be presented at a Community Health Assessment Forum in March where representatives of all eight Task Forces will convene to present their findings. The entire group will then prioritize the top twenty recommendations that will constitute a draft Action Plan. The Action Plan will then be reviewed at public forums in the Spring of 2014 for further input. A final Action Plan will be developed through this process no later than the end of June 2014.

You are invited to join one of these eight Task Forces which will be meeting between September and December 2013. To join a Task Force, simply email one of the Co-chairs and indicate your interest. Each Task Force will determine their own schedule of two to four meetings between September and December 2013. If you are unable to attend one of the planned meetings, you are free to communicate directly with the co-chairs in order to give your imput on the particular Health Factor that you are addressing.

2014-2019 Planning Task Force Leadership

Health Factors	Task Force Co-chairs	Specific Measures	Outcomes
1: Diet & Exercise	Amanda Raposo raposoaj@southcoast.org Nicky D'Abrosca nd’abrosca@ymcasouthcoast.org	Poor diet, inactivity, knowledge of and access to healthy food	Lower diabetes, heart disease, some cancers rates
2: Tobacco, Alcohol and Other Drug Use Prevention	Marilyn Edge medge@fallriverma.org Mike Aguiar MAguiar@sstar.org	Smoking, prescription and illegal drug use	Less drug or alcohol addiction, overdose
3: Sexual Activity and Infectious Diseases	Lynda Sampson famplan@aol.com Bob Hitt roberthitt@sstar.org	STDs, HIV, teen pregnancy	Less infertility, AIDS, premature parenting
4: Access to Quality Dental, Health, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Care	Betty Nunes nunesh@healthfirstfr.org Steve Merrill smerrill@peopleinc-fr.org	Insurance coverage, waiting times, lack of support outside medical settings	Less delayed or inappropriate treatment, oral pain, stress, depression
5: Education, Employment, Income and Disability	Lynn Creamer lcreamer@fallriverma.org Kate Politono KPolitano@detma.org	Low graduation rates, job creation, adult education	Lower unemployment, health illiteracy, economic stress
6: Community Safety and Violence Prevention	Christian McCloskey christiantmcc@usa.net Michaela Hetzler mhetzler@fallriverschools.org	Crime, abuse, bullying	Less PTSD, premature death
7: Family, Cultural and Social Support, and Housing	Wendy Garf-Lipp Wgarf-lipp@ Unitedneighborsoffallriver.org Tim Burke Tim.burke@fallriverha.org	Language, race, ethnicity, cultural values, maternal care, single parent households, homelessness	Decreased racism, stress, disconnection from community resources
8: Environment and Infrastructure	Julie Kelly jkelly@fallriverma.org Al Lima alima@ci.marlborough.ma.us	Transportation	Increased physical activity

Task Force co-chairs will be able to provide links to on-line sources of data and to Key Informant interviews that have been conducted with 30 local experts on local health issues.

An outline of the entire process is available at: 2014-2019 Action Planning Process Outline