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Concord releases community health needs assessment; behavioral health, isolation and transportation emerge as priorities
Summary
Town staff presented a community health needs assessment based on 539 responses. The survey skewed older and female; board members and staff plan a community health improvement plan focused initially on behavioral health, loneliness/isolation and transportation access.
Concord health staff presented results of a community health needs assessment (CHNA) at the Board of Health meeting on March 19, 2025. The survey received 539 responses; respondents skewed older (more than half over age 60) and female (over 70 percent of respondents), and staff noted that affects the representativeness of some findings.
The top areas of concern reported included age‑related chronic conditions, mobility and sensory issues, air quality and climate-related concerns, and behavioral-health items such as depression, loneliness and substance use. Staff emphasized that while many respondents reported being generally healthy, more-targeted questions revealed higher rates of concern about mental health and social isolation: roughly half of respondents indicated concern about mental health in a household member and about 40 percent indicated concern about loneliness/isolation.
The survey also collected substance-use and overdose-related data to help guide use of opioid settlement funds; respondents reported relatively low self-reported overdose incidence but some expressed concern about misuse of prescription opioids. Staff reported other public-health indicators from recent surveillance: 78 influenza cases in the month (compared with 72 the prior month), 16 COVID cases, one Lyme disease case and two tuberculosis infection reports during the reporting period.
Board members discussed next steps: staff and the behavioral-health collaborative will draft a community health improvement plan (CHIP) prioritizing behavioral health, isolation and transportation access. Board members suggested connecting the CHIP to ongoing town planning — particularly the state-mandated redevelopment process for the former prison site — to address walkability and transportation barriers to health-care access. Staff said they will continue outreach, coordinate with Emerson Hospital and other partners, and develop specific strategies for distributing opioid-settlement monies and for launching outreach that reflects the demographic skews and gaps in survey response.
Staff noted limits of the survey data — in particular underrepresentation of younger adults and men — and said they will combine the CHNA with other data sources (hospital, school surveys and qualitative stakeholder input) as they build the CHIP.
