Residents of Montezuma County have a lot of health-care options, but there are serious challenges and gaps in care as well.
That was the message at a recent health forum put on by the Colorado Health Foundation at the Axis Health Clinic in Cortez.
Twenty local health professionals joined the conversation, organized as part of a statewide tour to assess health services in southern Colorado.
“Rural areas face unique health challenges that are more nuanced,” said Karen McNeal-Miller, CEO of the foundation, which offers grants for improving rural health care. “Community discussion can help make connections, target problems and find solutions.”
Ample outdoor recreation, the Cortez Recreation Center, city parks, social services, youth programs, health department programs, and Southwest Memorial Hospital were all listed as health benefits for the community.
Tough health problems are also prevalent, and are borne out by local health statistics, with poverty as a driving factor.
For example, 19.1 percent of Montezuma County residents (population 26,785) live in poverty compared with 12.9 percent statewide, according to the 2015 Colorado Health Report Card.
The county has an average hourly wage of $15.98, which is 40.3 percent lower than the Colorado average of $26.78 per hour. The unemployment rate is 5.3 percent compared with the statewide rate of 4.3 percent.
Higher education is a good health-insurance policy, McNeal-Miller said, because it leads to better salaries and benefits. However, Montezuma County has a 63.2 percent high school graduation rate, lower that the state wide rate of 77.3 percent.
Having health insurance makes a difference in individual health. People with coverage get more preventative care, are healthier, and have more financial security when they do need treatment.
In the county, 11.1 percent don’t have health insurance, compared with the statewide rate of 6.7 percent. Between 2013 and 2015 the drop in uninsured in the county was 27 percent, compared with 53.1 percent statewide.
On the plus side, the report states that residents who use the emergency room for health care is down, going to 3.7 percent in 2015 compared with 8.1 percent in 2013.
Local health advocates weighed in on various challenges people face accessing health care.
There is a real need for dental services for the poor, said Lauri Knutson, manager of The Bridge Emergency Shelter.
“Poor dental health is endemic in homeless, but it’s also prevalent in the general population here as well,” she said.
It was noted that the county health department now offers dental care for Medicaid recipients.
It was reported that 20 percent of the local population is over 65, a reality that will require more specialized health services targeting the elderly.
“Lack of transportation can be a burden for our elderly and retired community” said one caregiver. “Just getting a ride to and from the grocery store can be a challenge for those living at home.”
Children are also victims of poverty, a fact that is often overlooked, participants said.
The pressure adults feel from poor housing, low wages and lack of health care trickles down to the children, causing stress and negatively affecting their performance in school and their health.
“Families face impossible choices everyday,” McNeal-Miller said. “When parents are overworked, nutrition tends to not make the top of the list.”
Added Knutson, “Families are also getting squeezed out of housing. Going to school after spending the night in a car or in substandard trailer causes stress and puts children at am educational disadvantage.”
Other challenges identified were lack of health literacy for elderly, difficulty recruiting and retaining health professionals, sense of mediocre standards in community, mental health issues, poor wages leaving no funding for health care, drug abuse, alcoholism, and an increase in marijuana use by youth and adults.
“People are turning down good paying jobs because of the drug test for marijuana,” said Dave Hart of the Piñon Project.
“Kids have the perception that marijuana use is OK because it’s legal for adults,” added a local counselor.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com