ADULTS

Humboldt County has significant health disparities compared with the state and the nation. Overall mortality rate and death rates for cancer, motor vehicle accidents, unintentional injuries, drug overdose, suicide, and firearm injuries all exceed the state and national averages. The most glaring disparities involve clusters of indicators relating to substance abuse, mental illness, and trauma. Deaths from suicide and drug overdose are over twice the state average. Last year, Humboldt County lost one person a week to drug overdose. The county’s rate of Hepatitis C, which is a marker for needle sharing and risk of HIV infection, is over six times the state average. Deaths from unintentional injuries, motor vehicle accidents and firearm injuries are one and a half times the state average. Humboldt County ranks second among California counties for cancer mortality and has the highest death rate from breast cancer in the state.

CHILDREN

Twenty six percent of children in the county live in poverty and forty percent live below 185% of poverty level. The percentage of AFDC recipients in the county is twice the U.S. average. Twenty four percent of Humboldt County children under 18 are uninsured. The mental health and substance abuse problems of the adult population have a significant impact on our county’s children. County arrest rates for domestic violence are 44% higher than the state average , neglect and abuse reports to Child Welfare are 246% above the state average, and the number of children in foster care is 168% of the state average.

Nutrition is at the heart of many of our most pressing child health issues. Childhood caries is epidemic. Open mouth screenings performed over the past 3 years at 15 area elementary schools showed that 38% of students had untreated cavities. Forty two percent of county youth over the age of 5 are overweight. Fourteen percent of children under 5 and 16% of children over 5 are anemic.

TEENS

Midway between childhood and adulthood, our adolescents face serious choices. Local data from the California Healthy Kids Survey indicate that patterns of substance abuse are present as early as the ninth grade. .. Juvenile arrest rates for drug and alcohol offenses and drug and alcohol related crimes committed at school are more than twice the state average. Thirty three percent of Northern Humboldt Union High School District 11th graders in the California Healthy Kids Survey admitted to having been drunk or high at school. Fifty one percent had used alcohol and 28% had used marijuana in the previous 30 days. Twelve percent had brought weapons to school. 

THE HOMELESS

According to a recently completed community assessment, 5,000 people experience homelessness in Humboldt County each year. At any given time there are about 2,000 people homeless in the county, 40% of whom are children. Over half of homeless adults are disabled, twenty six percent are mentally ill, and 36% have been victims of domestic violence. An increasing percentage of homeless are veterans. The majority of homeless people surveyed were camping out, although the number moving between the homes of friends and relatives was probably underestimated, since most of the counts were done at shelters and soup kitchens.

BARRIERS TO CARE

Forty five million Americans are without health insurance and many more have inadequate insurance which forces them to choose between basic necessities and needed medical care. The majority of the uninsured are working people and their children. Long distances and inadequate public transportation make it difficult for many who qualify for public insurance to apply for benefits and get to existing sources of care. Inability to speak English and concerns about immigration status keep farmworkers from getting needed services for themselves and their American born children. Many rural residents are reluctant to seek sensitive services such as mental health, substance abuse treatment, and family planning in local doctors’ offices where everyone knows everyone else. Lack of an address and telephone, and an essential focus on daily issues of survival make keeping appointments difficult for many homeless people. Ironically, it is those who need help the most who are least able to negotiate our society’s complex patchwork of health and social services.