Mid week...

I spent the morning at the Capitol, primarily to cover a press conference on the release of the Connecticut Health Foundation's first-ever comprehensive statewide look at Connecticut's community health. It's an interesting study, 264-pages of data collected that should prove useful to policymakers and community public health officials. But the findings are not as specific as one might hope because data isn't always as precise or available as one would like.

One problem - my opinion - is the grouping of all 169 cities and towns into six different categoriess that reportedly allows a community to "get a sense" of what health-related needs exist in their community when there is insufficient localized data on it's own.

The example cited at the press conference looked at a small community like Union, where there may not be enough specific data to offer a precise look at health-related needs. But by grouping it with other "rural towns" the overall assessment would most closely be reflective of what those needs might be.

There's a similar, but seperate, study under way looking specifically at New London County that will be released next week. That study is being done from regional health districts and area hospitals, and should prove a more precise look at what exactly the health-related needs are here in this part of the state. That study will likely provide far more precise data for public health officials around here.