Mental health poor in rural Utah
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"Lee Paulson" lrpaul...@earthlink.net
And doesn't look too great in urban Utah either.
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Nov/11072003/utah/108961.asp Mental-health problems 'severe' in rural Utah By Carey Hamilton The Salt Lake Tribune CEDAR CITY -- Imagine this scenario: A farmer in Box Elder County is close to losing thousands of acres of land that have been in his family for three generations.
Alfalfa, sugar beets and cattle aren't bringing in enough money to make a profit or even keep his debtors at bay.
Seeing no other way out, he slams his pickup head-on into a tractor-trailer so his family can collect his life insurance and keep the farm.
Sound far-fetched? Not really, said Michael Rosmann, a farmer and clinical psychologist who gave the keynote speech Thursday at the fourth annual Conference on Rural Health Issues in Cedar City.
One of the most overlooked yet serious issues facing rural counties in Utah is the lack of access to mental-health and substance-abuse care.
Suicide rates in Utah are higher than the national average -- 16.3 per 100,000 people compared with 12 per 100,000 -- according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And a higher percentage of people in Utah's rural and urban areas reported having bad mental-health days than what is typical in the United States -- 42 percent compared to 33 percent, the Utah Department of Health found.
Nationwide, suicide rates in rural areas surp*** those of urban areas.
From 1970 to 1997, the incidence of suicide among males in rural areas was 27 per 100,000 people compared with 17 per 100,000 in urban areas.
"The mental health problems in rural Utah are severe," said Don Beckwith, the office manager of primary care and rural health with the state health department. " The problems go unmet. They don't have the resources we have in Salt Lake." In fact, every county except Davis and Salt Lake has a shortage of mental health professionals, according to a Utah Department of Health study.
Mental health professionals are defined as marriage and family therapists, clinical psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, licensed professional counselors and psychiatrists.
Not only is there a shortage of professionals, but rural residents are more hesitant to seek help.
"Rural people typically are very closed to approaching people for behavioral health ***istance," said Rosmann. "It's a culture. The people who settle in rural areas are the remnants of the most independent people who didn't want anyone's help. They were the trappers, the miners, the farmers, the explorers." To minimize the stigma of asking for help, Rosmann suggests setting up anonymous help lines so people can call to receive referrals for mental health problems and addictions.
He did just that in his home state of Iowa and six other Midwest states through a group he founded called AgriWellness, Inc. The nonprofit organization promotes accessible behavioral-health services for underserved and at-risk population in rural communities.
Rosmann also recommends that primary care health centers integrate counseling for psychological and substance-abuse problems. Having all of those services under one roof would make it easier for people to tap into them because of their visibility, he said. Becoming more integrated makes good business sense, too, because practitioners could share administration and billing, he added.
One of the most troubling trends Rosmann warned Utahns to be aware of is the increased use of methamphetamines among farmers and rural residents.
Using meth enables farmers to work longer hours and ingredients, such as fertilizers used to cook the drug, are readily available in rural areas, he said.
Utah has 15,000 farms and ranches, totaling 11.5 million acres, according to the Utah Farm Bureau.
The influx of urban dwellers to traditionally rural communities is another factor that could cause stress for rural residents, Rosmann said.
That culture clash is apparent in such places as Moab, Heber and Cache Valley.
"The old-timers and indigenous natives are thinking, 'Is this what we want -- all these people coming into our towns and changing them?' " Rosmann said wealthy newcomers and tourists are needed to sustain rural areas, where traditional industries, such as mining and farming, have dwindled.
But he cautioned newcomers not to overstep their bounds and try to remake the towns against the wishes of longtime residents.
The two-day Rural Health Issues conference in Cedar City is sponsored by the Rural Health ***ociation of Utah and is designed to encourage lawmakers and professionals to improve health care in Utah's 25 rural counties.
chamil...@sltrib.com
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Regards, Lee the James, uM, feminist The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence--Thomas H. Huxley
Unruly Human U...@dangerous1.com
that's for sure: http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Nov/11072003/utah/108964.asp that's for sure: http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Nov/11072003/utah/108949.asp I almost killed myself after reading today's paper.
D1
Clovis Lark cl...@steel.ucs.indiana.edu
Suicide Rates in Rural Areas Suicide Rate in Rural Areas Soars Researchers are beginning to further study why rural residents commit suicide at a higher rate than those in urban areas...and the West leads the nation.
???It has a lot to do with how isolated everything is,??? said Stacy Holybee of Nevada's Crisis Call Center, a suicide prevention agency in Reno.
???There's not a lot of community resources available. It's hard to reach out because it's harder to keep anonymous. If you have any kind of problem that you're facing, you have to go and face people that you see in the grocery store.???
Nationally, the adult suicide rate in rural areas was 17.94 per 100,000 people in 1995, the most recent numbers available from the National Center for Health Statistics. In urban areas, the rate was 14.91.
Home of the nation's highest suicide rate, Nevada's overall rate last year was 20.18 per 100,000, almost double the national rate of 11.31 in 1998, the most recent figure available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rural rate was 25.63, compared to 18.91 in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas and has two-thirds of the state's population. The West as a whole had 12.95 suicides per 100,000 people in 1998. The South was second with a rate of 12.12, followed by the Midwest with 10.51 and the Northeast with 8.89.
The region's isolated nature brings more problems- setting up clinics in rural areas, attracting counselors to lonely towns and getting enough money to keep the clinics running. Four of Nevada's 17 counties don't even have mental health clinics and residents who want help must drive to an adjacent county, a trip that can take more than 2 hours.
FMI: http://www.narmh.org Source: Natl. ***n. for Rural Mental Health This information is for reference purposes only. It is in no way intended to be a substitute for, or to replace treatment from a licensed mental health professional or your physician. If you have questions concerning your mental health needs, please consult a mental health professional or call one of the contact numbers in this web site or consult your physician.
"Lee Paulson" lrpaul...@earthlink.net
NOT YET! I just sent you a picture.
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Regards, Lee the James, uM, feminist The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence--Thomas H. Huxley
"Lee Paulson" lrpaul...@earthlink.net
The isolation is part of what I like!
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Regards, Lee the James, uM, feminist The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence--Thomas H. Huxley
Unruly Human U...@dangerous1.com
that's great.
Like they say, one can always serve as a bad example to others, if nothing else!
D1
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