Everyone who lives or works in Lincoln County is invited to join the Lincoln County Community Health Needs Assessment forum on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. to help identify health priorities for our community for the next three years. The forum will take place at Lincoln Academy. Sign in and enjoy refreshments from 3 to 3:30.

The forum will discuss the Lincoln County Health Profile, which contains almost 200 data points that describe health outcomes, health behaviors, healthcare access and quality, and the social, community, and physical environment that affect our health. Previous forums were held in 2011 and 2015.

Cathy Cole, LincolnHealth director of education and community outreach, said, “We want to share this data and get our neighbors’ input about what they see as our biggest health issues. New this year, the presentation will also include a list of past priorities and what our partners have been doing to address them. This is an exciting opportunity to discuss how we can improve the health of our community.”

The event is free and open to the public. To reserve a seat, please call the LincolnHealth Education Department at 207-563-4540.

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 new, county-specific health improvement plans in the spring of 2019. As in the past, this forum is an important step in the Maine Shared Community Health Needs Assessment (Maine Shared CHNA).

The Maine Shared CHNA process will roll out in three stages:

1. County Health Profiles are scheduled to be released in the first week of September 2018.

2. Forums and other outreach are scheduled to be held between September 2018 and January 2019. This includes additional community presentations, conversations and other input.

3. Final CHNA reports are scheduled to be released in March 2019. These reports will include the County Health Profiles with a summary of the findings and other outreach.

For more information, go to the Maine Shared CHNA website (www.mainechna.org). The site contains forum schedules, local contacts, County Health Profiles, and a portal for users to create their own data reports to suit their needs. The website will also host the final CHNA reports due out in March, 2019. Check back often for updates.

This forum is a collaborative effort among LincolnHealth, Healthy Lincoln County and Midcoast Public Health Council.