North Country Health Compass and Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization Release 2022 Community Health Survey | Public Service News

WATERTOWN – About one in five people in the north of the country have been diagnosed with a mental health problem and a significant number say they have difficulty obtaining dental or primary care services.

These were among the findings of the North Country Health Compass 2022 Community Health Survey and the recently released Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization 2022 Community Health Survey. among adult residents of Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.

The survey annually has representation from Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence county public health departments, hospitals, health care facilities, behavioral health clinics, as well as a wide variety of community organizations. that focus on the welfare and education of the community. and had a sample size of 1,976.

“FDRHPO and other health care stakeholders are using this data to develop actionable insights that target the specific health care needs of the country up north,” said Megan Donato, population and community health analyst. clinical data from the FDRHPO, in a press release. “This year, the survey helps to better understand experiences of care, access to health care, community health status and healthy lifestyle indicators. The ability to compare outcomes across demographic groups provides the opportunity to identify and address disparities in health equity.

In their findings, they found that the most common health care services that people have the most difficulty with are dental or oral health, with 28% of people reporting difficulty; primary care, 25%; and optometry/eye care, 19%.

Twenty percent of residents have also been diagnosed with a mental health condition, up from 8% in 2018, the survey found. The survey found that those most likely to report a mental health issue are members of the LGBTQIA+ community, 39%; persons with disabilities, 41%; and those insured by Medicaid, 34%,

They also say that 29% of people with what they describe as “less than good” mental health describe having had problems receiving mental or behavioral health services.

While awareness of mental health and addiction has increased since the start of the pandemic, 71% of residents in the north of the country said they know where to go to receive mental health services and 68% of residents said they know where go for addiction services. Among those living in households with active duty military, 84% were extremely likely to know where to go for mental health services, while this was much less common in the LGBTQIA+ community, at 65%.

When it comes to addiction services, 68% of northern residents said they know where to go for help. Only 59% of members of the LGBTQIA+ community knew where to go and only 55% of adults aged 75 and over knew where to go.

Sixty-seven percent of people said they never had a problem getting to their appointments if they could only get there by car. Although the number may seem relatively high, this number is down from 79% in 2018.

In 2017, a report by 247WallSt.com, a financial news and opinion website, said Jefferson, Lewis, and Oswego counties were among the top five counties in New York State with highest rates of binge drinking, with survey by FDRHPO and North Country Health Compass supporting this claim.

The survey says 22% of participants said they “never” drink alcohol, up from 33% in 2017 and 31% in 2019, and around a third of adults say they drink at least once or twice a week, or even After. They say that number is similar to long-term averages, but much lower than 2020 at the height of the pandemic, when the rate was 43%.

Chronic health conditions such as high blood pressure, obesity, any mental health condition, pre-diabetes, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and COPD are also on the rise across the board, including except for diabetes, down from 12% in 2019 to 10% in 2022, COPD which remained at 6% from 2019 to 2022 and obesity which had no previous data.

Twenty-four percent of people with children at home said they had difficulty finding pediatric care and care for children and adolescents.

Across the tri-county area, women overall do not appear to have difficulty finding women’s health or OB-GYN services, as 90.2% of women surveyed said they do not had no difficulty receiving health care services locally.

The survey also allowed people to comment on what they thought was the biggest challenge to receiving health care. 27.9% of people said long wait times were to blame, which was the highest of all challenges listed. Next is the cost of care at 16.1% and the third highest is bad experience with the provider at 12.4%.

When it comes to overall physical health in the Tri-County area, 80.9% overall reported being at least “good” healthy.

The numbers were almost identical when it came to mental health as 80.5% of people said their mental health was at least “good”.

“This information is essential to guide our healthcare partners – hospitals, public health agencies, clinics, community organizations – as they work collaboratively to engage in comprehensive, data-driven health planning to further strengthen the North Country health care system,” Ms. Donato said in a news release.

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