Maine Shared Community Health Needs Assessment

The Maine Shared Community Health Needs Assessment (Maine Shared CHNA) is a collaboration between Central Maine Healthcare (CMHC), Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC), MaineGeneral Health (MGH), MaineHealth (MH), and Northern Light Health (NLH). The vision of the Maine Shared CHNA is to turn health data into action so that Maine will become the healthiest state in the U.S. The mission of the Maine Shared CHNA is to:

  • Create Shared CHNA Reports,
  • Engage and activate communities, and
  • Support data-driven health improvements for Maine people.

MDR was contracted by the Maine Shared CHNA to assist in the development, management, analysis, and reporting of this effort. The first phase of the project involved the analysis of more than 220 health indicators for the state, counties, public health districts, selected cities, and by specific demographics when available. Data analysis was conducted by the Maine CDC, the University of Southern Maine and MDR. Phase 2 of the project involved community outreach and engagement and included the following efforts:

  • 17 County Forums
  • 9 Community Sponsored Events
  • 1000 Oral Surveys

The nine community-sponsored events involved historically underserved communities, including: black or African Americans, homeless or formerly homeless, the LGBTQ+ community, older adults, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, people who live with a disability, people with low income, and people with a mental health diagnosis. Oral surveys were conducted in collaboration with 10 ethnic-based community organizations’ (ECBO’s) community health workers to better reach Maine’s immigrant population. The survey was an adaptation of the City of Portland’s Minority Health Program Survey. All support materials including Data Profiles and PowerPoints were produced by MDR.

Final CHNA reports were developed by MDR for the state, each county, and districts in the spring of 2022. All of the County, District, and State reports and additional information and data can be found on the web page: www.mainechna.org.

Maine’s Shared Community Health Needs Assessment was the first public-private partnership of its kind in the nation: A collaboration between Central Maine Healthcare (CMHC), Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC), MaineGeneral Health (MGH), MaineHealth (MH), and Northern Light Health (NLH).