Mission & Overview

Mission:

To undertake community health activities that are best accomplished through the collective effort of its member organizations and that focus on health problems of greatest priority, address health needs of underserved populations, and add value to the region's health care system.

Overview: The Adirondack Rural Health Network (ARHN)

The Adirondack Rural Health Network was established in 1992 through a grant award between the Upper Hudson Primary Care Consortium and the New York State Department of Health to pursue a mission of addressing needs and gaps in the health care delivery system on a regional basis. Today, this has grown into a community partnership of 16 public, private, and non-profit organizations. Its membership includes a critical access hospital and its affiliated nursing care and assisted living facilities, a network of community health centers, five county public health agencies, the regional emergency medical services council, mental health agencies, and other health and social service organizations. The ARHN is the region’s coalition of safety-net providers that is committed to the coordination of existing health services as well as the development of greatly needed new and expanded services in northeastern New York including Hamilton, Warren, Washington, southern Essex and northern Saratoga Counties.

The service area includes twenty-four towns that represent Medically Underserved Areas. Within the service area of the ARHN there are four primary care, one mental health and five dental Health Profession Shortage Areas (HPSA). Political subdivisions include all of Hamilton, Warren and Washington counties, the towns of Crown Point, Minerva, Moriah, North Hudson, Schroon and Ticonderoga in Essex County, and the towns of Corinth, Day, Edinburg, Hadley, Moreau and Northumberland in northern Saratoga County.

Over the past fourteen years, the ARHN has provided a forum to address rural health care delivery problems, instituted a process to develop corrective strategies, and developed a means to implement, monitor, and evaluate new initiatives, proving enormously successful in regional community health service development. The ARHN members recognize that genuine progress in addressing the priority health needs in the area can only be made by proactively identifying issues and pursuing collaborative action. By working together, the network members have been able to maintain and improve access to primary care, dental care, behavioral health, and other health-related services throughout the region, reducing health disparities by addressing the needs of our most vulnerable population—the uninsured and underinsured

After completing the recent assessment Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Identifying Community Health Priorities in Essex, Hamilton, Northern Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties, the ARHN recognizes two top priority health issues deserving the attention and focus of the region’s health agencies and organizations:

1. Access to Quality Health Services
2. Health Promotion for Disease Prevention

The importance of Access to Quality Health Services and Health Promotion for Disease Prevention to improved health in the region are consistently confirmed by health data, public opinion, and the views of health professionals.

The data and public opinion compiled for the assessment indicate there are five major areas of focus within the issue of Access to Quality Health Services, including improved access to:

• Emergency Medical Services
• Health Insurance
• Long Term Care Options
• Mental Health Services
• Oral Health and Dental Care

There are four major areas of focus for achieving the greatest impact on Health Promotion for Disease Prevention, including:

• Alcohol and Substance Abuse
• Early Detection of Cancer and Other Disease
• Nutrition and Fitness
• Tobacco Use