The health department in Hart County is a not a core function according to the Hart County Board of Commissioners.
The Board of Commissioners made more cuts to the county budget. According to an article in the local newspaper, an additional $120,000 was removed from the budget.
The commissioners made cuts to what they called non-core county functions. The Hart County Health Department, Behavioral Health Department, and the Division of Family and Children Services all suffered budget cuts as a result.
The reduction in funds has caused the availability of services in the county to be reduced
With an unemployment rate of 11.9%, more residents rely on the free government services.
The nurse manager for the health department, Rhonda Dyer, said there has been in increase in STD rates and teen pregnancies due to cuts in the budget.
Services for STD screening operate out of the health department half a day, once a week. The family planning services are available only twice a week.
Both of these services are consistently booked.
“We don’t have any [available] appointments till the end of March,” said Dyer.
An increase in teen pregnancies is likely due to the inability of teens to access birth control measures, she said.
STD rates for the county are already on the rise.
The department expects to see more cuts to their budget in the new fiscal year that begins in July.
The health department cannot put out fires our prevent crime, but it can prevent trips to the emergency room.
Dyer believes that the county will see an increase in ER visits because preventative measures cannot be taken.
Health is a vital part of any community. Sick residents cannot work.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Their Hands Are Full
With today’s failing economy more people are becoming susceptible to health problems because they are unable to get the medical care that they need.
A conversation with Pat Brake, the office manager at the Hart County Health Department, revealed that the incidence of people utilizing her facility for healthcare has increased.
The increase in patients at the health department has unfortunately been met with a reduction in staff.
The clerical and nursing staff at the health department has been reduced by half. Reduction in the staff has led to cutbacks in general clinic days.
Clinic days allowed patients to be seen for a variety of reasons. Family planning clinic days have been reduced from four days a week to once a week.
Brake says that they are not allowed to compile a waiting list for patients who cannot be seen. They circumvent this problem by obtaining the contact information of women who cannot be seen, and they are called if a position becomes available.
Because it is so difficult to make an appointment with the health department, it is rare that a patient misses an appointment said Brake.
Brake has even appealed to outside sources to provide funding for the health department. She has applied for grants from various organizations even trying to solicit the help of talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
The health department asks the local hospital to spare nurses to assist with the clinic days at the health department, but because of staff cutbacks at the hospital it is rare that they are able to function short-handed.
On the day that I spoke to Brake she said that they had scheduled 27 appointments with two nurses on call and one visiting nurse assisting.
How long will the clinic be able to function short-handed, and how many people are being left out of the loop because there just is not enough staff?
I was given the invitation to just observe the health department for a day; I hope to paint a clearer picture of the plight by witnessing the problem first hand.
A conversation with Pat Brake, the office manager at the Hart County Health Department, revealed that the incidence of people utilizing her facility for healthcare has increased.
The increase in patients at the health department has unfortunately been met with a reduction in staff.
The clerical and nursing staff at the health department has been reduced by half. Reduction in the staff has led to cutbacks in general clinic days.
Clinic days allowed patients to be seen for a variety of reasons. Family planning clinic days have been reduced from four days a week to once a week.
Brake says that they are not allowed to compile a waiting list for patients who cannot be seen. They circumvent this problem by obtaining the contact information of women who cannot be seen, and they are called if a position becomes available.
Because it is so difficult to make an appointment with the health department, it is rare that a patient misses an appointment said Brake.
Brake has even appealed to outside sources to provide funding for the health department. She has applied for grants from various organizations even trying to solicit the help of talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
The health department asks the local hospital to spare nurses to assist with the clinic days at the health department, but because of staff cutbacks at the hospital it is rare that they are able to function short-handed.
On the day that I spoke to Brake she said that they had scheduled 27 appointments with two nurses on call and one visiting nurse assisting.
How long will the clinic be able to function short-handed, and how many people are being left out of the loop because there just is not enough staff?
I was given the invitation to just observe the health department for a day; I hope to paint a clearer picture of the plight by witnessing the problem first hand.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
What Does This Button Do?
As a 20-something who thinks that the term "floppy drive" is arcane, it is easy for me to jump on board the train known as E-health.
E-health or electronic health refers to the new style of communication that involves the use of the internet. While I can log onto WebMD, give myself a diagnosis, and in the near future probably begin to prescribe my own medications; what happens to the baby boomers who did not grow up in the electronic age?
Hart County has a large elderly population. Looking through various statistics for the county one can't help but wonder how this new wave of health information will get to the older population.
My grandmother is one of those people who refuses to learn how to use the internet and only uses here cell phone for dire emergencies. I remember being a teenager and she still had a rotary phone. It would be hilarious to see her trying to diagnose herself using WebMD.
My mother loves the internet, but when she first used WebMD because she had a persistent cough results said that she had, sinusitis or brain cancer. I exaggerate a little, but using a self-diagnosis tool can be difficult without the proper knowledge. It sometimes encourages people to not seek doctors opinions until things get more severe.
As more information becomes conveyed electronically and the average age of US citizens increases it will be interesting to see how websites develop in order to increase accessibility for older adults.
E-health or electronic health refers to the new style of communication that involves the use of the internet. While I can log onto WebMD, give myself a diagnosis, and in the near future probably begin to prescribe my own medications; what happens to the baby boomers who did not grow up in the electronic age?
Hart County has a large elderly population. Looking through various statistics for the county one can't help but wonder how this new wave of health information will get to the older population.
My grandmother is one of those people who refuses to learn how to use the internet and only uses here cell phone for dire emergencies. I remember being a teenager and she still had a rotary phone. It would be hilarious to see her trying to diagnose herself using WebMD.
My mother loves the internet, but when she first used WebMD because she had a persistent cough results said that she had, sinusitis or brain cancer. I exaggerate a little, but using a self-diagnosis tool can be difficult without the proper knowledge. It sometimes encourages people to not seek doctors opinions until things get more severe.
As more information becomes conveyed electronically and the average age of US citizens increases it will be interesting to see how websites develop in order to increase accessibility for older adults.
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