About Our Region

The Greater Sullivan County Regional Public Health Network works to enhance and improve public health-related services within the region. The Greater Sullivan County Regional Public Health Network is hosted by Dartmouth-Hitchcock.  The mission of the Greater Sullivan County Regional Public Health Network is to increase collaboration between regional partners to create core public health services and programs as well as collaboratively establish health priorities.  Our Public Health Region is committed to using evidence based models, and community resources to measure outcomes.

Public Health Region

The Greater Sullivan County Public Health Region is one of 13 New Hampshire public health regions. This region includes the following 15 rural towns and one city with a combined population of approximately 47,000 people:  Acworth, Charlestown, Claremont, Cornish, Croydon, Goshen, Langdon, Lempster, Newport, Springfield, Sunapee, and Unity in Sullivan County and Newbury, New London, Sutton, and Wilmot in Merrimack County. There are two community hospitals located in the region: Valley Regional Hospital on the western edge of the region in Claremont and New London Hospital in the eastern part of the region.

Regional Public Health Advisory Council

The Greater Sullivan County regional Public Health Advisory Council worked with members for all sectors to create a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) with the goal to foster a community that supports healthy lives, health equity, and wellbeing for people of all ages.  The currently five priority areas that community leaders are working on addressing include: Health Eating Active Living, Access to Mental and Dental Care, Healthy Families, Emergency Preparedness, and Substance Misuse Prevention and Reduction. To read about the CHIP, please see www.sullivancountynh.gov/publichealth.

Priorities for Action

• Substance misuse prevention – Through our Regional Public Health Network, the Communities United Regional Network works to provide infrastructure, leadership, and coordination to increase the number and reach of evidence-based substance misuse prevention programs, policies, and practices implemented in the region. Utilizing an asset-based public health approach, the network coordinator, the regional Substance Misuse Prevention Committee called the Resource Advisory Collaboration Council (RACC), and other key partners engage and support the business, education, health, safety, government, and community and family supports sectors in the implementation of the region’s strategic plan. For more information regarding substance misuse prevention work in this region, please contact Deanna Dolan at Deanna.L.Dolan@hitchcock.org or 603-863-2560.
• Continuum of care – The Continuum of Care (CoC) is a resource used to inform the community and partners about the availability and effective use of local and state resources. As a region, we are helping to foster an effective system that meets the primary care and behavioral health needs of the communities by helping to identify gaps in the continuum over time and support the development of needed resources. For more information about the Greater Sullivan County Public Health Network’s work regarding CoC, please contact Ashley Greenfield at Ashley.R.Greenfield@hitchcock.org or 603-863-2560, follow us on Facebook, or visit our website.
• Public health emergency preparedness – Greater Sullivan County Regional Public Health Network provides leadership and coordination to improve the readiness of partners to mount an effective response to public health emergencies and threats. This work includes the maintenance of a Regional Public Health Emergency Annex, which includes plans for response to and recovery from public health emergencies that impact communities in the region. In addition, our Regional Public Health Network works closely with hospitals, municipal emergency management directors, and other governmental, public health, and health care entities to plan for public health emergencies and ensure the provision of public health, medical, and behavioral health services before, during, and after an incident. For more information about this work regarding public health emergency preparedness, contact Kirsten Vigneault at Kirsten.D.Vigneault@hitchcock.org, 603-863-2560 or visit our website and click on Emergency Preparedness.
• Emergency volunteers and Medical Reserve Corps – The Greater Sullivan County Regional Public Health Network coordinates efforts to recruit, train, and deploy a volunteer Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) during public health emergencies. The MRC supports local emergency responders to provide emergency public health services throughout the region. MRC volunteers include medical, public health, and general professionals. For more information about the Greater Sullivan County MRC, or the MRC Club at Colby Sawyer College, contact Kirsten Vigneault at Kirsten.D.Vigneault@hitchcock.org or 603-863-2560. Please view www.sullivancountynh.gov/mrc or sign up today at www.nhresponds.org.
• Flu clinics in schools – The Greater Sullivan County Regional Public Health Network partners with local schools to vaccinate students against seasonal influenza. This program prioritizes schools where children are less likely to be insured or have other barriers to being vaccinated. For more information about this initiative please contact Kirsten Vigneault at Kirsten.D.Vigneault@hitchcock.org, 603-863-2560 or visit our website.
• Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Prevention – Claremont-Newport Healthy Homes is a non-profit organization comprised of area residents who are working together to reduce home-based environmental hazards that can negatively impact your family’s health. These include lead contamination, pests, contaminated water, radon, and mold, among other hazards.  The Committee meets regularly so please contact us if you would like to join us! For more information about this initiative please contact Bella Stachowski at Isabella.M.Stachowski@dartmouth.edu, 603-863-2560 or visit our website.
• Other Initiatives – Greater Sullivan County member organizations host and participate in many initiatives and coalitions that impact public health in the region, including supporting young adults 18-25 (contact Danielle Tenney at Danielle.D.Tenney@hitchcock.org), and numerous school and town wellness workgroups. For more information, contact Kirsten Vigneault at Kirsten.D.Vigneault@hitchcock.org, 603-863-2560.