Measuring up: Part 2

In the Saturday, April 8 edition, the Shoshone News-Press (SNP) took a look a recent study that ranked Shoshone County’s overall general health against the rest of the counties in the state.

The study held few punches and ranked Shoshone 41 out of 42 participating countries, only beating out our southern neighbors in Benewah County who ranked the lowest.

Conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI), the study based their rankings off of how each county fared in five main categories including health outcomes, health factors, clinical care, social & economic factors, and physical environment.

With the issues facing the county’s health presented, the SNP reached out to the community to see what is being done to fix some of these problems.

To address some of the health related areas in need of improvement, we spoke with Shoshone Medical Center’s (SMC) Marketing & Business Development Manager, Lisa Turpin.

Turpin, who was not too happy with the low ranking, hit on several points that hint toward progress being made and perhaps a higher health ranking in the future.

“What we look at as a health provider for our community is we look at what areas can we provide a service locally that will break down the barrier of travel, that will break down the barrier of high expense, and give people the opportunities.”

One of the areas of concern in study was our high rate of adults who are obese and physically inactive (31 and 28 percent, respectively).

Ironically, one of the few strengths the county had in the report was a high percentage of the population that have access to exercise opportunities (92 percent)

By these statistics, it would seem that even though residents have access to exercise opportunities, they are not taking advantage of them.

SMC Wellness Center Health Coach Jonnie Nelson says that the key to getting physically active and fighting obesity is finding activities that you enjoy.

“Between the hiking, swimming, bike trails, fitness classes, and gyms available here in the Silver Valley there has to be some kind of physical activity to look forward to doing again and again. Every little bit adds up to life changing progresses, so we need to start taking advantage of our impressive “access to physical activity” statistic so the ‘inactive adults’ and ‘obesity’ statistics will improve.”

Turpin pointed out that SMC assisted in paying for the Silver Express bus service last year when it was in danger of shutting down.

Part of the reason for this contribution, she explained, was to make sure people in the community have transportation to any event they may need to get to; exercise or otherwise.

Another area of concern in need of attention was residents access to primary physicians (2,480 people to one doctor).

Turpin explains that SMC is actively looking for more ways to bring individuals with medical training to the Silver Valley, whether it be doctors, nurses, or other specialists.

“We know that our physicians are going to be aging out and retiring, and we need to replace them.”

“We need to make sure that we are actively selling our region and our hospital, and getting those professionals in,” She added.

Turpin points out that in addition to seeking out doctors, SMC makes it a priority to reach out to the youth and keep them aware of the opportunities in the medical field.

“We also talk to students and talk to them about careers,” Turpin said.

“We did career fairs at Wallace and Kellogg (high schools) so that we can talk about encouraging our youth to get into the field of medical care in some form.”

In an attempt to fight our high adult smoking percent (sixteen percent of the population), SMC offers a free tobacco cessation classes on a month a monthly basis. Ran as a four part course, Turpin says that the class times and schedules can be flexible, so as to better accommodate people’s schedules.

“We really want it to start with our youth that vaping is not healthy, smokeless tobacco is still tobacco and carries health risks.”

SMC has also recently started to offer pulmonary rehabilitation to assist individuals who are wanting to repair the damage that smoking has caused on their body.

“If they quit, we can help them be better breathers.”

In terms of combating the high rate of uninsured in the county, Turpin stresses that getting people medical care is their number

“As a hospital, we have committed to make health care as accessible as possible,” Turpin said.

“If people are uninsured we can work with them.”

She explains that SMC looks for every avenue it can to assist patients in paying for treatment, whether it be through helping them find insurance, charity programs, or offering them “liberal payment plans” to ease the burden of medical costs.

Uninsured individuals can reach out to the Idaho Department of Insurance, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Panhandle Health, or Heritage Health for more information on getting insurance or receiving treatment.

One area the SMC is already taking major steps to address is the quality and availability of mammography screenings here in the area.

In the Fall of 2016, SMC announced that they were offering 3D Mammography exams.

These new screenings allow SMC to get a much more accurate and detailed scan of a patient’s breast compared to older methods.

In conventional 2D mammography, small breast cancers can be missed and normal tissue can mistakenly appear abnormal due to overlapping layers of tissue.

The 3D method of imaging greatly reduces a tissue overlap effect, hence more accurate screenings.

CEO/CFO of Shoshone Medical Center Jerry Brantz explained at the time that SMC sought out the 3D exam machine because they are, “continually assessing the specific health needs of residents in the Silver Valley.”

Turpin also pointed out that the payment methods for these exams are numerous and in many cases, can be completely or partially covered by insurance or the hospital.

On the law enforcement side of things, Kellogg Police Sergeant Paul Twidt says that the key to cutting down our high number of alcohol-impaired driving deaths (56 percent of automotive deaths where alcohol is a factor) is for police to remain active and be seen.

“As our old Chief, Larry Irvine, once said ‘you don’t have to hunt DUI’s, DUI’s will find you.”

But this only works, Twidt explained, when Officers and Deputies are doing their job and out patrolling.

Thought the report does not specify the time of the year these deaths occur, Twidt believes that the high percentage has something to do with the summer/ tourist season, pointing out that violent crimes and drinking offenses go up in the summer and are generally committed by people out of town.

With these possible solutions, here’s hoping that Shoshone County can climb the health ranking list a bit and make some distance with that bottom spot.