The Upper Valley Healthy Community Project Assessment

The Upper Valley Healthy Community Project was an effort led by the Mascoma Valley Health Initiative (MVHI) with funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration during 2010-2011. The goals of the project were to conduct a community-based participatory health needs assessment and investigate the possibility of creating a Rural Health Network in the Upper Valley.

The project focused on the 13 New Hampshire communities of the Upper Valley Public Health Region: Canaan, Cornish, Dorchester, Enfield, Grafton, Grantham, Hanover, Lebanon, Lyme, Orange, Orford, Piermont, and Plainfield.

MVHI formed a Needs Assessment Work Group comprised of Upper Valley residents, which contributed to designing and implementing the needs assessment. The Work Group convened a formal visioning session and a series of community roundtable discussions to identify residents’ perception of priority health needs, and their most commonly favored ideas for addressing those needs.

The priority needs identified through this assessment process are: coordination of services, transportation, dental care (oral health), local primary care clinics, and mental health services.

MVHI conducted a review of secondary data, including 61 indicators, to support the priorities established through community input.

This needs assessment process led to the formation of the Upper Valley Health Network, which represents an agreement between six health-related nonprofit organizations to strengthen collaborative assessment, prioritization, and mutual action to improve population health in the Upper Valley.

Download the Upper Valley Healthy Community Project Assessment (PDF, 10 mb)