Community Benefits & Health Assessment

Each year, Harrington produces a Community Benefits Report, highlighting the previous fiscal year’s services, outreach and education to our most underserved populations. Our programs are a collaboration of medical services within Harrington, as well as outside organizations and businesses that share the desire to help educate the public, prevent chronic diseases and reduce health disparities.

Community Benefits and Statewide Health Initiatives

The Community Benefits Program is guided by certain health care priorities, based on statewide needs identified by the Attorney General’s Office. Updated in 2018, these priorities align with the same four focus issues identified by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services and DPH in 2017, as being significant statewide needs that drive mortality, morbidity, and health care costs:

• Chronic Disease with a Focus on Cancer, Heart Disease and Diabetes
• Housing Stability/Homelessness
• Mental Illness and Mental Health
• Substance Use Disorders

Community Benefits Mission Statement

Harrington's mission is to build healthier communities by providing education and outreach for identified health deficits through collaborative initiatives and programs.

Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)

Harrington completed its most recent CHNA in December 2022.

A 21-question online survey, distributed via email, social media, and meeting presentations, captured a snapshot of the community’s feelings toward the overall health and wellness of its neighboring towns. The survey focused both on each individual’s personal wellness habits and behaviors, as well as broader questions about community health and barriers to medical care.

Secondary data collection was also collected, including the US Census Data, National Cancer Registry, and internal hospital reporting on patient trends and Emergency Care diagnosis codes.

Read Harrington's annual reports: 

2022 Community Health Needs Assessment
2022 Community Benefits Strategic Implementation Plan
FY2023 UMass Memorial Health Community Benefits Annual Report

The Community Health Needs Assessment examines a range of health behaviors and outcomes, social and economic issues, health care access, and gaps and strengths of existing resources and services. The hospital welcomes input on the Community Health Needs Assessment and its Community Benefits Implementation Strategy. Please provide any written comments to Sue Fafard-Desrosiers at  Sue.Fafard-Desros​iers@umassmemorial.org.

Data Overview

The data collected from our CHNA covered a variety of topics, including general health, adolescent health, senior health and demographic information.

• We collected 635 survey responses;
• Responses skewed largely female at 88% (out of 608 responses);
• 94.79% of participants selected their age as between 18 and 69 (out of 609 responses);
• 46.82% of voluntary responses (581) selected over $75,000 for annual household income

Survey Findings

The top five zip codes in which respondents lived were Southbridge (143), Dudley (46), Sturbridge (41), Charlton (38) and Webster (41). Due to a large number of different responses for this question (a lot of suburban areas have unique zip codes), we grouped any zip code that appeared less than 3 times together in one “other’ bucket, which counted for 54 responses.

The survey asked individuals to identify their top health concerns across three main groups: Overall Community, Seniors and Youth/Adolescents. Below, is a list of the top five answers per category: