Hospitals, Policy

‘The Atlantic’ took a poignant look into the sickest part of the country

The Atlantic published a story Tuesday that really highlights the vast and quite disturbing range […]

The Atlantic published a story Tuesday that really highlights the vast and quite disturbing range of health conditions around the country, which is particularly devastating in Buchanan county in Virginia.

The county “has one of the highest percentages of adult disability recipients in the nation, according to a 2014 analysis by the Urban Institute’s Stephan Lindner,” the story reports. “Nearly 20 percent of the area’s adult residents received government SSDI [Social Security Disability Insurance] benefits in 2011, the most recent year Lindner was able to analyze.”

In addition to that people in the region on average die five years earlier than they should, a third of the people are obese and a third smoke. About 11 percent of people in Virginia live in poverty, but in this area, it’s more like a quarter. The area might be beautiful to look at, but it doesn’t represent the health of its residents.

“If this place has the scenery of the Belgian Ardennes, it has the health statistics of Bangladesh,” Olga Khazan wrote.

Thanks to Remote Area Medical clinics, many people in this region are actually being treated for injuries and deteriorating health. But it seems like the major issue is that there is a deep-down resignation in finding ways to improve. Disability checks are almost the same as a minimum wage income, and once anyone has let their health fall apart, it’s even more challenging to recover, not to mention the affects of resulting depression.

There have got to be ways for us to not let things get so bad in regions of the country like this, but until then, shining a light on the issues that are a part of many people’s lives is an important step. The Atlantic did a great job of illustrating the personal aspects of this kind of decline.

Photo from Flickr user Universal Pops]

 

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