Report Takes a Look at Pottstown Region's Health

This won't be a long one folks, because the meeting of the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Commission itself wasn't long.

And there won't be another for some time seeing as they are taking off July and August.

The main event was a presentation by Craig Colistra, the program officer for recreation and health at the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation.

He was presenting facts from the foundation's 2018 Community Heath Needs Assessment and it was an interesting overview.

Colistra said the full report is on the foundation website, but I couldn't find it. I emailed them last night and am hoping to get a look at it soon.

There were some interesting facts that are tangential to health, such as population, race, median income, poverty and the like.

It will surprise no one to learn, for example, that Pottstown has the highest diversity level (Douglass (Mont.) is more than 90 percent white); the lowest median income and the highest number of families in poverty. Yay us.

Here are some of the takeaways:

• About 10 percent of the people who live in the eight towns represented by the committee (see photo at top) lack health insurance and others have trouble accessing care even if they do.
• 14 percent do not seek care when they are sick and 15 percent do not get medicine they need, mostly due to cost.
• 55 percent exercise three times a week; event fewer, 24 percent, eat fruits and/or vegetables four times a week; but fewer of us are drinking sugary drinks, less than the rest of Southeast PA.
• Even though our obesity level is close to the U.S. health target at 30 percent, we nevertheless have a higher rate of diabetes (14 percent); but less high blood pressure and high cholesterol than the wider area.

One of the reasons I attend these meetings, other than the sparkling conversation, is the reports from all eight of the municipalities represented. You may have noticed there are not as many Mercury reporters as there used to be and I can't be everywhere, so I often find out about things I missed.

Such was the case last night.

First, Gregory Churach announced that a developer has submitted a plan for a total of 290 age-restricted homes on the west side of Route 100 near the Farmington Avenue interchange.

The initial plan had called for some townhomes, but Churach said when the developer returned, he had changed his plans to include only single-family homes. He noted that several years ago, the zoning of the land near that intersection was changed to encourage exactly this kind of development.

And West Pottsgrove Township Commissioner Mark Green announced that at a meeting I missed, the commissioners voted to fill in the township pool, once the Colonial Pool, rather than try to sell it.

That's because the professional appraisal of the property came in at only $150,000, "less than the township put into it," said Green. The facilities restrooms and snack bar will remain, as will the pavilion, but the pool itself will be filled in.

The property is to be turned into a park with a playground for children, said Green.

And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting:

A Healthy Look