Did you know the suicide rate of Kent County is 92 percent higher than the rate of suicides for all of Maryland?
That is just one frightening fact in a health needs assessment by the Mid-Atlantic Association of Community Health Centers.-
Among the disturbing data in the report:
— Depressive disorders in Kent are 46 percent higher than the state average. Anxiety disorders are 42 percent more.
— Low birth weight among infants is 10 percent higher in Kent. Births by teenagers are 25 percent above state average.
— Kent’s age-adjusted mortality rate for accidents, 35.7 per 100,000, ranks 2nd worst in Maryland.
— Kent County is No. 1 in the state for deaths related to Alzheimer’s.
— Tobacco use is 20 percent higher than Maryland averages.
— Kent County has the highest percentage of adults reporting binge drinking of all counties including Baltimore City.
These findings are getting increased scrutiny now in the aftermath of the Board of Public Work’s decision to shut down Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center in Chestertown.
This report is not part of any publicity push to keep Upper Shore open. The research was completed and published last winter – and the findings were there for the Board to see long before it acted to close the center.
Much of what the assessment found to be true during the winter is certain to become even worse with the center’s loss.
“. . .Chester River Hospital Center has reported an increasing number of people utilizing the emergency department for mental health care, substance abuse or overdosing. . .The hospital reports the emergency department is being overwhelmed at times. . .”
The hospital has only one behavioral health room. It has just 11 beds in the emergency room.
The assessment further noted that one-third of all emergency department visits at Chester River Hospital Center could have been seen in a primary care setting. However, these patients said they could not afford to go there.
Many are showing up at the hospital for emergency dental care. Forty percent of adults and 16 percent of the children surveyed in the county had unmet dental care need in the previous year.
The report noted, in that regard, that nearly 30 percent of Kent County’s population is low income or living in poverty – which it added had been increasing since 2000. And 29 percent of adults reported having no health care coverage.
Researchers found indicators of increasing mental health problems among Kent residents.
“The most compelling evidence of this is the suicide in Kent County as compared to Maryland,” the report states. “The average crude rate for Kent County is 92 percent higher than the state rate. . .”
And chronic drinking, defined as men having more than two drinks and females one drink per day, tops the state average: 6.3 percent of adults reporting that in the county versus 4.6 percent statewide.
“The overall percentage of injury and total crashes involving alcohol or drugs is consistently higher than in the state” – 13.5 percent in Kent, 8.3 percent across all of Maryland.
One of the most troubling aspects of all these findings is that Upper Shore has been the sole facility within many miles that is designed to treat them.
There’s a small joke in the psychiatric field that goes, “When you’ve seen one mental health facility, you’ve seen ONE mental health facility.” That means each one is tailored for local needs. When Upper Shore goes, Chester River Hospital Center, as the data shows, is unprepared for the consequence.
rachel carter goss says
In 2004 I stayed at The Caron Foundation in PA for alcohol rehabilitation – at the price tag of $25k – insurance paid for some but my family paid the remainder. Father Martin’s Ashley is around the $20k range. Medicare does not pay for rehab services. I couldn’t even get a widow friend into Piney Point even though her husband was a vet and had rec’d health care there b/4 his death. The Witsitt Center is not on the chopping block (yet), but it is ‘pay as you can’. Hmmmmm i wonder how many more people can get help under the Pay As You Go system?
I have met many people on my journey in recovery who are dual-diagnosed. They depend on Upper Shore for treatment. The potential closing of Upper Shore is heart-breaking.
Thank you, John, for another great article. Rachel
Elizabeth says
Great article.
Robin Wood says
In the needs assessment, the description of Upper Shore [Hospital]’s services is fairly brief. There is no mention of the specialized treatment offered there for those dually-diagnosed with mental illness and addiction. While other psych units are required to treat the dually-diagnosed, addiction treatment is usually fairly minimal. Upper Shore’s specialty unit (the Red Unit) gives balanced treatment of both disorders, including attendance several times per week at AA or NA meetings.
That same needs assessment gave the A.F. Whitsitt [addiction treatment] Center a much more detailed write-up. In fact, it was so detailed that I learned that psychological services used to be offered to the dually-diagnosed, but are no longer. Inpatient treatment for the dually-diagnosed citizens of the Upper Eastern Shore is a service we should fight to keep.
Daniel Menefee says
What about the astronomically high rates of certain types of cancer?
There has been speculation for years. Some blame Velsicol and others blame agricultural pesticides. It has also been suggested that the jet stream brings cancerous air from the western shore and Aberdeen.
Instead of speculation, wouldn’t it be wise to seek answers from the federal government or commission a study from an outside and neutral source.
I know so many people with cancer right now and they seem to be evenly split between transplants and those who’ve lived in Kent County since birth.
How come no one wants to know what causes all this cancer?
adaptor says
I am wary of using such statistics to support your case, though similar statistics may have led to the decision to shut down the facility. I haven’t found the needs assessment on line, but it seem to me there are pitfalls using comparative statistics from this region.
Kent County has one of the smallest populations, at least on Delmarva. Is the number for mental health issues strictly linenear (x number per thousand persons) or is it likely that some other variable like an aging population, a student population, an imigrant population or some other variable can account for the spike? The comment about of the cancer rate illustrates the point.
If 200 persons out of a pop. of 20,000 is hospitalized, that’s 1 percent. 2,000 out of 500,000 is .4 percent. In that case the one percent (200 persons) makea a 40 percent increase over .4 percent ( 2,000 persons).
None of this minimizes the impact of closing a scarce community resource.