Northwest Hills Council of Governments Meeting:
1/8/26, 10 AM
Present: Board Chair Dan Jerram, Vice Chair Michael Criss, Secretary Patrick Roy, and Treasurer Tom Weik; Representatives Greg LaCava, Jesse Bunce, Molly Spino, Henry Tirrell, Todd Ascelaschi, Denise Raap, Meaghan Cook, Casey Flanagan, Eric Epstein, Doug Thompson, Curtis Rand, Bradley Bremer, and Gordon Ridgway; Absent: Jim Brinton, Seth Breakell, Magi Winslow, and David Barger
Adverse changes in economic conditions in the Northwest Hills Planning Region are leading to worse health outcomes for residents in the region, according to reports recently conducted by experts from Charlotte Hungerford Hospital and Hartford HealthCare.
Findings from community health needs assessments (CHNA) conducted by regional hospitals and presented by health experts at the Jan. 8 meeting of the Northwest Hills Council of Governments (NHCOG) show that factors like food accessibility, housing, insurance costs, and other economic stressors are impacting health outcomes across the region.
“Unfortunately, the story has gotten more challenging,” said Brian Mattiello, Hartford HealthCare’s senior system director for social impact.
CNHAs are conducted by nonprofit hospitals every three years to evaluate health-related data, identify health needs and priorities for future funding, build on existing strengths and assets in each community, collaborate to improve community health, and develop a community health improvement plan to address most pressing unmet needs.
Across all Hartford HealthCare hospitals, which includes Charlotte Hungerford, food insecurity rates are higher than they were prior to the pandemic. The highest rates of food insecurity are found among Black and Latino residents, according to slides from Mattiello’s presentation. A high number of Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — also known as ALICE — households are living in poverty.
According to the slides presented by Mattiello, 39% of households of four people in Connecticut were below the ALICE threshold of $126,000 in yearly income in 2023 — the latest year available.
Recent changes to federal laws, Mattiello said, are also expected to account for 11.8 million Americans losing health insurance coverage by 2034. Mattiello cited figures from the Congressional Budget Office.
Mattiello also noted that housing insecurity is on the rise. According to the presentation, 12% of adults in Connecticut reported in the past year that at any given point of the year they would not be able to afford their housing. That rate doubled in the last decade, according to the presentation.
“We know what economic stressors do from a health perspective,” he said. “They impact how people access services, and chronic conditions can worsen when people have limited choices to make. This is the challenge.”
Mental health continues to be an area of deep need in the region, and one that shows the lack of appropriate staffing at area hospitals, according to Carla Angevine, Charlotte Hungerford’s manager of community health. In Litchfield County, there is one mental health care provider for every 330 residents, which is higher than the state average of one provider for every 220 residents.
Similarly, reproductive health highlights a significant gap in the number of providers, Angevine added. There is one provider for every 5,977 women in the hospital’s area of coverage, almost double the state average, Agevine said.
“Our provider shortages remain,” she noted.
Other issues in the area of coverage include high rates of obesity and diabetes, as well as high tobacco usage during pregnancy. According to Angevine’s presentation, almost 30% of Litchfield County adults are obese. Almost 10% of them have diabetes. Tobacco usage during pregnancy is almost double the state average at 3.3%, Angevine said.
“The good thing is we have, as a hospital, a community that is really willing to collaborate and work with us,” Angevine said. “We cannot address these health challenges by ourselves.”
Throughout the years, part of the hospital’s improvement plan has funneled through an initiative titled “Fit Together.” The initiative was created in 2011.
“This includes our chronic disease prevention and management intervention, which is really to promote active living and healthy eating, to make a healthy choice and easier choice for all of our community members,” Angevine said.
Dr. Michael Curi, an expert in pediatric and adolescent medicine and the Fit Together co-chair, said he believes in the local expertise and opportunity for collaboration among local governments and healthcare providers.
“We can build the kind of environments and structures that are going to accomplish our goals of being the healthiest versions of ourselves,” he noted.
To date, the initiative has awarded $84,750 in grant funding to 28 different partnering organizations in and around Litchfield County. Some of the grants include funding for a community fitness trail in Torrington, water fountains at Goshen Center School, portable basketball hoops, and the Winsted Senior Center Farm Stand.
“We’re thinking about building things and creating opportunities,” Curi said.
NHCOG Chair Jerram said he would like to partner with the initiative in his town. Jerram is the first selectman in New Hartford.
“Those are some pretty staggering statistics of what you’re seeing,” he noted.
