A key group of doctors, public health experts and community leaders say substance abuse is Cass County’s biggest major health problem, according to survey results released by Logansport Memorial Hospital’s board of trustees Monday evening.
Results of the hospital’s community health needs assessment, an in-depth study of local residents’ health status, behaviors and needs conducted every three years, were reviewed and approved Monday at the hospital board’s regular meeting.
The study grew from a phone survey of 750 local residents conducted in April and May as well as a separate online survey of 116 physicians and others with a vested interest in improving the wellbeing of Cass County residents.
Survey results were collected and analyzed by Professional Research Consultants, a market research firm the hospital has contracted with for the assessment.
More than 60 percent of key informants — physicians, public health experts, social services providers and community leaders — told PRC surveyors they believed substance abuse, like excessive alcohol consumption or illicit drug use, constituted a major problem for the Logansport area. Another 27 percent considered it a moderate problem, according to the survey results.
“Honestly we’ve known for some time ... we have a huge problem with opiate addiction, and heroin is a byproduct of that,” hospital CEO Perry Gay said after Monday’s meeting.
Just 1.3 percent of residents acknowledged using an illicit drug in the month just before the phone survey was conducted. The proportion of residents acknowledging illicit drug use was similar to the findings in 2013, according to the assessment. However, PRC cautioned that that’s likely understating the extent of the drug abuse that’s actually occurring in Cass County.
The survey did find greater abuse of alcohol than three years ago. Nearly a fifth of Cass County adults drink excessive amounts of alcohol, according to the health needs assessment, which defines excessive drinking as either heavy consumption, of one or two drinks a day or more, or binge drinking, having four or five drinks at any one time.
That’s significantly more than reported drinking excessively in 2013, the last time the hospital conducted a health needs assessment. Just under 12 percent reported drinking excessively then.
Nearly 29 percent of residents surveyed told PRC substance abuse had negatively affected their lives. But just 2 percent reported ever having sought professional help for a substance abuse problem.
Physicians and other key informants told surveyors they believe that’s because Cass County doesn’t have any inpatient drug treatment centers and drug abusers may be in denial that they have a problem or face stigmas surrounding drug abuse treatment.
“We tend to have a stereotypical view of addicts when in fact we could have [one who is] a close friend,” one community leader was quoted as saying in the assessment. Comments from key informants were made anonymous in the health needs assessment.
Many pointed to the prevalence specifically of heroin and methamphetamine abuse and to the steep costs associated with seeking drug abuse treatment.
“Even if someone does go to a treatment facility, when they come home, they go back to the same crowd and fall back into bad habits,” another community leader was quoted as saying.
FINDING SOLUTIONS
Hospital leaders developed several steps to try to combat substance abuse over the next three years as well as some longer-term goals.
Gay pointed out the hospital has purposely brought on a pain management doctor who doesn’t prescribe opioids. Dr. Pedro Perez’s focus on functional medicine acts as a two-fer combatting both opiate addiction and obesity, since the approach focuses on lifestyle changes to address pain’s underlying causes like obesity.
Vicki Byrd, vice president of planning and development at the hospital, described other efforts like increasing access to resources that are already available to reduce substance abuse — creating an inventory and sharing it with local residents so everyone knows what’s out there and how it can help, for example, and using that inventory to find out what’s still needed.
The hospital also intends to work with Four County Counseling Center to bring in more addiction counselors and make substance abuse counseling available via telemedicine, by phone or internet. In addition, the hospital plans to work with the Indiana Youth Institute to find effective programs to teach children and teens about the harmful effects of substance abuse and implement those programs.
In the long run, leaders at Logansport Memorial Hospital and Four County Counseling Center are working with state leaders to explore opening a local detox facility, too, provided adequate funding and a location can be found.
“It’s going to take time” to tackle the area’s substance abuse issues, Byrd said. “The problem didn’t arise overnight.”