New report: County's top health issues include mental health issues, drugs, heart disease

The first step to finding a solution is knowing what the problem is — that's the reasoning behind Crawford County Health Partners' new community health needs assessment.

The 140-page document, released last week, looks at both health issues in the community and factors contributing to those issues, explained Kate Siefert, health commissioner for Crawford County Public Health.

"It's pretty comprehensive, but that's the whole point, is to take a thorough look," she said.

The 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment identifies depression, drug overdose deaths, youth drug use, suicide and heart disease as the five most pressing issues.

Crawford County 2022 Community Health Needs Assessment by Gere Goble on Scribd

"This report is based on epidemiological, qualitative, quantitative and comparative methods in order to help guide local decisions on how to better meet the health needs of our community," according to a news release from Crawford County Public Health. "The information provided in the report is critical to those in positions to make positive impacts on the health of the Crawford County community’s residents. The assessment identifies major health concerns, gaps in services, disparities and opportunities."

Mental health a major area of concern

Siefert said she's not surprised to see mental health cited as a major issue in the report. She's been monitoring the number of suicide ideations reported in the county — people who report to an urgent care center or emergency room because they're either thinking about harming themselves or have harmed themselves.

"And that is what has me worried," Siefert said. "Because as we go through, our numbers are fairly high. We see more suicide ideations in a month that we do drug overdoses. And people want to talk about drug overdose and preventing drug overdoses, getting help for those. But what we don't talk about as much is people that are struggling with suicide ideations."

Each month this year, the number of suicide ideations reported has been up from the same month a year earlier.

In January 2021, 16 were reported; this January, it was 28. February saw 26 reports, up from 24 in 2021. In March, it was 26, up from 19. In April, the figure jumped from 15 in 2021 to 36 this year — more than double. In May, the number went from 22 up to 40.

"And it's an issue that is highly underreported," Siefert added. "We know that that's not an actual number. We can monitor it for trends, but it's not an actual number because many people, they don't report to an ER. If they were just thinking about it, or if they didn't complete their suicide. Sometimes nobody knows about it. Or because of the stigma, they don't want to go see a doctor, they don't want to go to the ER because they don't want anybody to know.

"So while even though those numbers are there and it's a trend, we do hang on the fact that those aren't actual concrete numbers. However, that trend makes me very nervous."

For a small community, those are pretty big numbers, she said. The youngest person reporting suicide ideation was 6 and the oldest was 79, she said. The average age was 26.

"They just think it's a teenage issue, and it's not," she said. "We're seeing it younger and we're seeing people that are struggling in their senior years as well. And it's all ZIP codes."

The study points out that in Crawford, the ratio of residents per mental health provider — 720 to one — is almost double the ratio for Ohio, 380 to one. "This clearly illustrates the need for more mental health providers in Crawford County," Siefert said.

Because it can take a while for death certificates to be issued, numbers on suicide completions in the county might not be available for months, she explained.

"I really think we need to recognize the mental health needs of our county," she said. "I think we need to not be afraid to talk about the fact that we have mental health needs in this county. There's a lot of depression. We need to recognize that people need help and it's OK that they need help. We need to step up and help them get the help they need."

People need to learn not to be afraid to approach someone they suspect may be struggling, she said. Sometimes, a simple question — "Hey, are you thinking about hurting yourself?" — can be the tipping point toward that person seeking help.

"It's something we all kind of need to take to heart and realize it's our responsibility," Siefert said. "The only way we can improve the mental health of our community is if we come together as a community to address it. It's not somebody else's problem; it's our problem together as a community to help one another. ...

"I don't know what our community fully can do, but I know we need to come together and do something."

What comes next?

Figuring out what that might be is part of the next step in the Community Health Needs Assessment.

In a few months, Crawford County Health Partners will begin having improvement planning meetings, Siefert said. A community health improvement plan for the next three years will be completed by the end of the year.

The group will choose the most important two or three issues to focus on over the next three years, and develop an action plan for what needs to be done.

"The first year, we tried to take on like 10 priorities. Well, it split our efforts too much and we decided nope, can't do that. We need to really focus on something so we can really make an improvement and move on," Siefert said. "Because they're all important, they all affect one another. That is sometimes the hardest thing, is picking out the one, two maybe three things we're going to focus on for the next few years.

"But then it gets exciting, because then we talk about all of the things that we can do. We look at the things we already do, how we can enhance them. We look for where our gaps are in our services — what do we think we need to bring into Crawford County? Do we know of something in another county that works, and maybe we can bring it in here? Is there a new partner we need to bring in to help us and guide us?"

Data from prior assessments have helped community members receive grant funding and create programs to help raise awareness of substance use issues, increase education and understanding of trauma-informed care, provide depression and suicide screenings, expand weight-loss medical programs, implement diabetes prevention programs and address food insecurity, according to the new release.

For example, after the last assessment, the Crawford County Drug Overdose Fatality Review was created to offer recommendations on how to prevent such deaths.

What is Crawford County Health Partners?

Crawford County Health Partners is "more or less a coalition of the local entities and agencies that are focused on improving the health and wellness of Crawford County, whether that is providing services, providing physical care or mental health care or in our sense, the public health aspect," she explained. "It's nice that it's diverse, because we don't get stuck focusing on one aspect or another."

More than 20 local organizations are members. The new Community Health Needs Assessment is the coalition's third such report.

"There's an IRS requirement for not-for-profit hospitals to do an assessment every three years, and then Ohio has a requirement for health departments to align themselves with their hospitals," Siefert explained.

Several member organizations of Crawford County Health Partners paid a consultant, Moxley Public Health, $25,000 to create the report and a subsequent improvement plan. The majority of the cost is covered by Avita Health System, Crawford County Public Health and the Galion Health Department, Siefert said.

"To identify and address the critical health needs of the community, Crawford County Health Partners (CCHP) utilized the most current and reliable information from existing sources and then collected new data through interviews with community leaders and an online health needs prioritization survey," the report states.

ggoble@gannett.com

419-559-7263

Learn more

The report is available online at the websites of Avita Health System or Crawford County Public Health.

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: New report identifies Crawford County's top health issues