Health and wellness report a mixed bag
By JACE DICOLA
Jace.DiCola@gjsentinel.com
Every three years, the county compiles, analyzes and reports on an array of data pertaining to the locals’ health and wellness, from healthcare access to education.
Mesa County has made tangible progress in youth quality of life and insurance coverage, but continues to struggle in many aspects of mental health and health equity.
The 128-page assessment listed eight “priority findings:” Economic stability, childcare, housing, behavioral health providers, emergency department misuse, alcohol consumption, suicidality and the influence of youth relationships on mental health and substance use.
Stakeholders in the assessment, including all the county hospitals and other major healthcare providers, are each tasked with selecting one of those priorities and collaborating on an action plan by the end of 2024.
SUICIDE & MENTAL HEALTH
The county’s suicide death rate far surpassed the state since the pandemic — from 2020 to 2022, the county rate was 32.1 per 100,000 people, compared to 22.6 for Colorado and less than 14 for the nation.
Twenty-five percent of the county’s adults had been diagnosed with a depressive disorder in their lives, and suicide is the second leading cause of death for people under the age of 65.
According to the assessment, the county’s higher rate of suicide deaths can likely be attributed to the high number of gun owners. Firearms increase the risk of suicide death by more than three times, and 50% of the area’s adults report having a firearm in their home (compared to the statewide rate of 37%).
Between 2020 and 2022, the county saw approximately 83 suicide deaths via firearm.
Mental health is substantially worse among the LGBTQ+ demographic, as a statewide survey found that
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Orange zip codes are classified childcare deserts. Darker shades of orange indicate higher shortages.
Photo courtesy of THE MESA COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT
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non-heterosexual residents were three times as likely to report suicidal thoughts as the overall U.S. population — transgender respondents were seven times more likely.
YOUTH & EDUCATION
The assessment boasted several improvements in youth services and quality of life, as the childhood poverty rate saw a substantial decrease and childcare availability has slowly increased.
Although the county still struggles with daycare with 3.5 children for every daycare slot, certain areas such as Clifton are no longer a childcare desert thanks to initiatives like the Clifton Community Center.
Improving public education was identified as a primary priority, as only 24% of respondents agreed that they were pleased with the state of education in Mesa County. This is likely reflected in how enrollment in local public school districts decreased by 8.9% between 2018 and 2013, with less than 80% of county youth enrolled in one of the districts.
Accordingly, the Mesa County Valley School District 51 created a 25-year facility master plan that identifies $582 million in projects to be completed in the next decade. These projects include basic repairs, maintenance, safety enhancements at all schools, targeted improvements to learning environments and improvements at Central High School and Fruita Monument High School.
At the same time, chronic absenteeism increased during the pandemic. Nearly one in five (19%) of all local public school students were habitually truant (four or more absences in a month, 10 unexcused absences in a year) through the 2022-2023 school year – 4% higher than the statewide average.
Regardless, the rate of high school completion for adults 25 and older in Mesa County and Colorado is about 92%, which is higher than the national rate of 89%.
BEHAVIORS, ACCESSIBILITY, OUTCOMES
Overall, 49% of residents said they were satisfied with their access to quality health care, but that contentment varied with income level and ethnicity. Only 39% of Hispanic or Latino residents and people in households earning fewer than $50,000 were satisfied, compared to 61% of those in households earning more than $150,000.
While 91.6% of county residents have health insurance, nearly 5% of residents with private or employer insurance coverage and 7% of residents with Medicaid, CHP+, or Medicare coverage were told by a potential new provider that the provider was not taking their type of insurance.
The assessment also reported that emergency departments are frequently misused. Between February 2023 to January 2024, about 40% of Monument Health emergency department visits were for non-emergency diagnoses like headaches, and 5% were for symptoms that could have been prevented by accessing a lower tier of care, sooner.
According to the report, this means that 45% of visits could have been routed to an urgent care or primary care provider. Doing so would lower the cost of care and patient burden on emergency departments.
Another notable statistic is that the county’s mortality rate is higher than the state; according to the assessment, many leading causes of death are preventable and influenced strongly by health behaviors.
“All of the causes of death where Mesa County had higher rates of (years of potential life lost) than Colorado are strongly and directly influenced by health behaviors: suicide is influenced by mental health care access and firearm culture, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis are influenced by alcohol consumption, and type 2 diabetes and heart disease have a strong correlation with diet and exercise.”
In contrast, the county’s Hispanic or Latino population experiences lower overall mortality rates, which is largely attributed to their younger age distribution.