Healthcare in the Adirondacks

Part of what makes the Adirondacks so beautiful is their remoteness. They offer an escape to many people from the daily grind of jobs and stress that plague most people in more urban environments. However the people that live in the Adirondack need the necessities of modern life as much as you or I. In a place as remote as the Adirondacks, luxuries we take for granted are harder to come by in these mountains. While TV and Internet can be beamed down to a dish by satellite medical care cannot be.

            This is not a problem unique to the Adirondacks; it is hard for many people living in remote regions to receive proper medical care. Luckily there is a group that addresses this problem for the Adirondacks. The Adirondack Rural Health Network is a group that transcends public, private, and non-profits in upstate New York with a common goal. To provide care to areas that need it, and cannot easily obtain it. They offer public forums on health, as well as reviews and directions to the nearest care center that everyone can afford.

 In researching public health in the Adirondacks I was curious as to what the largest health problem was, and consequently the largest goal for the ARHN to achieve. The main problem, which the ARHN has addressed the most, is accessibility, it is hard to find hard numbers proving their success in this area, because just as with preventing disease, you can not count the number of people you save, by preventing infection. You don’t know. We can see success in their other areas of efforts. Next to accessibility chronic disease is the largest health problem in the region. The chart below shows percentages of cancer caught at early stages that is then treated in 2007, you can notice that in many counties they are close to reaching their goals of diagnosis in the region. These cancer diagnoses are an indication of the good that this organization is doing. Other rural area’s similar to the Adirondacks, such as Appalachia should try to emulate this network to provide quality health care to those who live in its mountains.

Access to Health Care - Early Stage Cancer Indicators (2007)	Essex		Franklin	Fulton	Hamilton*	Saratoga	Warren	Washington	ARHN Avg	Upstate Avg	NYS Avg	Goal
Oral cavity and pharynx cancer, % early stage	67.7%	47.2%		52.6%	20.0%	34.9%	28.3%	46.3%	42.4%	35.7%	33.9%
Colon and rectum cancer, % early stage (1,2)	22.8%	48.7%		33.1%	40.9%	40.3%	39.3%	34.6%	37.1%	44.1%	42.3%	50.0%
Lung and bronchus cancer, % early stage (2)	83.8%	24.3%		19.8%	28.6%	20.2%	22.0%	22.9%	31.7%	20.9%	20.9%
Melanomas of the skin, % early stage	84.4%	84.4%		90.9%	100.0%	83.3%	83.7%	81.5%	86.9%	82.4%	82.6%	90.0%
Female breast cancer, % early stage (1,2)	36.7%	70.9%		59.4%	79.2%	65.6%	71.9%	67.7%	64.5%	64.5%	62.6%	75.0%
Cervical cancer, % early stage (1,2)	52.3%	50.0%		50.0%	50.0%	32.5%	33.3%	50.0%	45.4%	50.8%	48.4%	65.0%
Ovary cancer, % early stage	22.2%	35.3%		15.8%	33.3%	17.9%	3.6%	9.1%	19.6%	18.0%	18.2%
Prostate cancer, % early stage	14.3%	86.4%		77.3%	77.8%	85.9%	90.8%	94.5%	75.3%	86.5%	86.3%	95.0%

Sources:

http://arhn.adks.com/access/

http://www.arhn.org/regional-health-data.php