This week Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River hosted dozens of community partners seeking input on improving healthcare in the SouthCoast as part of its triennial community health needs assessment.
Tracy Ibbotson, Director of Community Health Benefits at Saint Anne’s Hospital, says the event is a key step to identifying improvements to community healthcare.
The hospital’s data will be shared with Southcoast Health, operators of Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River. Southcoast Health is also conducting its community health needs assessment. Ali LeBert, manager of community health and wellness for Southcoast Health, says sharing the data collected will limit the duplication of efforts.
The data shared at the community meeting pointed out many obstacles facing SouthCoast residents in living healthier lives…Such as income and housing insecurity and battling mental health and substance abuse disorders. The data also highlighted the many strengths possessed by the regional health organizations.
Data collection will continue over the next few months with opportunities for the community-at-large to offer input. The final community health needs assessment report is set to be released by early fall.
