Area Reps Gather in Norwalk to Talk Fairfield County Health

More than 100 influential public figures from various health organizations gathered Tuesday afternoon at Norwalk City Hall to discuss the findings of recent study and collectively plot out the next step. 

The first step towards forming the 2012 Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan for South/Central Fairfield County was a "Preliminary Assessment Findings and Setting Priorities," which broke down findings for the Fairfield County towns surveyed. 

Those towns included:

• Darien
• Fairfield
• New Canaan
• Norwalk
• Weston
• Westport
• Wilton

"We had more than 100 people from over 50 community organizations here today," said Norwalk Hospital Vice President of Public Affairs Mary Franco. "The people have really come together. They're here because they're concerned about Connecticut's health."

Franco said hospitals are now required to conduct community health assessments every three years and create a community health improvement plan, which they then have to measure and report to federal agencies. She said health departments are now required to conduct the same assessments every five years.

Franco said the timing was perfect for everyone to get on board together. She said the collaboration's been great and everyone is on board for addressing the largest health concerns facing Fairfield County residents. Stamford, Greenwich and a few other towns were conducting their own research, she said, but hoped they would join forces down the road. 

"I'm convinced we'll all be working together in the future," said Franco. "The area we're working in is too small and this is too great an opportunity."

Most of the data coming from the study showed Fairfield County coming out ahead of state averages. The population increased as a whole in those towns by 2.3-percent from 232,712 to 240,115, the median household income was almost double the state average and 78-percent of homes were owner-occupied, as opposed to 69-percent statewide. 

The crime rate was, save for Norwalk, considerably lower than the Connecticut average.  Fairfield County residents reported more accessible healthy food choices, greater excessive habits and lower percentages of excessive drinkers and smokers. The county also had lower obesity, asthma and diabetes rates.

"Fairfield County is an educated community that cares about health," said Rose Swenson, Director of Strategic Planning and Organizational Effectiveness for Health Resources in Action. "They're doing a great job with this assessment. It's stirred their interest. People are asking questions and engaging each other over this data."

The leading causes of of hospitalization in everyone under 65 was mental health related issues. Across all age groups, digestive issues and injury/poisoning played in the top five reasons. The leading causes of death were cancer of any type and heart disease.

Those present then broke down what they considered to be the most important issues they saw facing Fairfield County residents. That list turned out to be:

1. Mental health issues
2. Obesity
3. Substance abuse.

After breaking off into groups and discussing how to approach these various topics, the assessment organization will reconvene on September 11, 2012, to take those rough outlines and discussions and "Develop Preliminary Goals and Objectives."

The group hopes to draft strategies and outcome measures before the end of September, deploy an online survey and report on developments through October and host the next Community Health Improvement Task Force Meeting in November.

"Part of what we can do with this assessment is get the information to the community and tell them to come hear these results," Swenson said. "It's always wonderful to share that. There's a sense of pride here. People want to get involved. It's really a part of their culture, and that's one of the things we stand for: Community participation."

Editor's note: This article by Norwalk Patch.