Page 4 - Executive Summary BC II - final

• The only difference between urban and rural is population density
• Not necessarily poor nutrition
• Importance of education about preventative care and health and wellness resources
• Reduction of smoking took a long time. Doing the same for other health risk areas may take a long
time, too
• Hard to communicate to the region
• Frustration of not being able to get a well mobile for Calvert
• Need a health clinic in southern Calvert County

7. Lack of mental health resources

• Half of U.S. counties have no mental health capacity
• 20-25% of doctors' workload is mental health
• Lack of properly trained professional mental health staff
• Still a stigma about mental illness

8. Increasing dependence on Technology

• Is a two edged sword. A great benefit - but at the same time overdependence and overuse pushing costs
up.
• It is a struggle for doctors to transition to the new recordkeeping and other technology
• Cost and time implications for transition. Efficiency goes down before it goes up
• People demand reliance on tech based assessment
• Question of priorities - where do the resources go?

9. Effective emergency medical services

• Funding is ok
• Topography is a problem - many areas can only be reached by medivac in order to get patients to needed
aid
• High concentration of high need patients in certain areas - e.g. nursing homes
• All volunteer staff provides for many challenges - 60 hours of training a year for voluntees
• Staffing is tough - especially during the day when most people work
• Communication is good. EMT's know the emergency room staff. Work well to communicate.
• Emergency rooms do not provide specialty care. Problem for at-risk population

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