What exactly is LincolnHealth?

Where does it fit into the community and how does the community impact its goals?

These were some of the questions posed Tuesday, June 17 during a vision meeting at 1812 Farm in Bristol.

During the meeting, groups of people from local businesses, town administrations and hospitals were tasked with coming up with visions for not only the future of Lincoln County Healthcare, but where the county was expected to be in the future.

The meeting was broken into groups, which discussed what the future held for Lincoln County.

Jim Cosgrove spoke for one of the groups about the problems that will plague Lincoln County in the coming years.

“There's an aging population, and no jobs for young people in the community, at the same time you have people who want to age in place,” he said. “Another issue that will (arise) is how the uninsured will get access to primary care.”

Problems facing Lincoln County Health were identified as being as diverse as a sea-change in how people think about their own personal wellness and where they go to receive treatment.

Dr. Andrew Russ spoke for another one of the groups and said that there are plenty of positive signs in Lincoln County.

“More and more people are looking outside traditional healthcare to places like home healthcare providers,” he said. “There will come a time when we have to figure out a way to (interact) with people not when they are acute, but before they get sick.”