Grimes report shows obesity, uninsured issues for county
By HOLLY HUFFMAN
Eagle Staff Writer
Editor's Note: This is the third installment in a seven-part series examining the county-by-county results of the 2006 Brazos Valley Health Status Assessment. Next Sunday: Leon County.
Grimes County residents have plenty to brag about. Navasota was dubbed the Blues Capital of Texas and hosts an annual Blues Fest to celebrate the designation. Neighboring Todd Mission, near Plantersville, is home to the state's largest Renaissance fair.
But last month, the rural Texas county earned a more dubious distinction - fattest county in the Brazos Valley.
The label came in the wake of the 2006 Brazos Valley Health Status Assessment, the results of which were released in late August. According to the findings, nearly two-thirds of Grimes County survey respondents are considered overweight or obese.
That means their body-mass index - calculated using a person's height and weight - was 25 or higher, according to the survey results. A normal body-mass index ranges from 18.5 to 24.9.
"I was just shocked at how high their percentage was," said Eric Todd, lead administrator of health services for the Brazos Valley Community Action Agency. The organization runs a reduced-cost clinic in Navasota.
Obesity wasn't the only issue detailed in the findings. The county also ranked at the top for having the most uninsured residents. Residents who attended community discussion groups detailed a myriad of additional issues, such as an overburdened emergency medical service and a lack of area jobs, which forces people to seek work in surrounding communities.
As in most surrounding counties, poor public transportation was ranked as the top community issue as well as the most pressing unmet need in the county. Problems with violence, teen pregnancy, a lack of affordable housing and child care, and drug and alcohol abuse also were mentioned in the findings.
"It was definitely eye-opening," Navasota Mayor and Grimes County Health Resource Commission Vice Chairman Bert Miller said. "I don't know that there has ever really been anything like this done before. I'm sure all involved in all the counties are learning something."
A weighty issue
The Grimes County Health Resource Commission oversees the Grimes Health Resource Center - one of five across the region that together make up the Brazos Valley Health Partnership. Additional centers are in Burleson, Madison and Leon counties.
The four counties - together with Washington, Robertson and Brazos - took part in the 2006 health survey conducted by the Center for Community Health Development, which is part of the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health. It is the second such survey; the first was conducted on a much smaller basis in 2002.
The review included a written survey and community meetings and was designed to measure both progress and challenges for the seven counties.
According to the report, 2,582 Brazos Valley residents completed surveys and 369 people participated in 40 discussion groups throughout the seven counties. Nine percent of survey respondents were from Grimes County. Five discussion forums, attended by 22 people, were held in the county.
In Grimes County, 74 percent of respondents qualified as overweight or obese, while 21 percent said they were uninsured, according to survey results.
Like her counterparts across the Brazos Valley, Grimes County Commissioner Pam Finke said she was not surprised by the results of the survey. Rather, the findings served as confirmation of existing problems, such as the high rate of obesity and need for more mental health care.
While some issues are isolated, Finke said many are linked.
If the county could devise a workable transportation plan, that could decrease residents' problems getting to specialists, she said.
A plan to fight obesity, she said, could help combat the growing diabetes epidemic.
Finke said it will be up to the Grimes County Health Resource Commission to take a hard look at the issues outlined in the report and find innovative ways to address them. Slowly, she said, the commission and health resource center can chip away at the issues.
Emergency response
Residents who attended the community meetings outlined myriad issues facing the county they described as often reluctant to embrace change.
One concern centered on the rural county's ambulance and emergency medical services. The county extends more than 40 miles vertically but has only two ambulances to cover the entire area. One is stationed to the southwest in Navasota and the other to the north in Bedias.
Residents also worried that only one first responder lived north of Anderson - leaving much of the northern portion of the county without emergency help. The few medical crews and first responders that do work in the county, they said, are often tied up on non-emergency calls.
Finke acknowledged the need for a third ambulance in Grimes County. The county commissioners contract with Bryan-based St. Joseph EMS, which charges roughly $125,000 annually per ambulance. That means bringing in a third station - likely in the Stoneham-Plantersville area - would drive up the county's annual costs from about $250,000 to $375,000.
But that doesn't mean it won't happen, Finke said. The panel has been working to address the issue for nearly a year, and Finke said Wednesday that she hopes to have a new station open within the next year.
"It will become a reality," she pledged.
Residents also pointed to the need for expanded mental health services. Twenty-one percent of respondents reported depression, while another 46 percent reported having at least one poor mental health day during the past month, according to survey findings.
Grimes County is not alone in the fight, Finke said, noting that the cry for more services has been common across the state. But because of the lack of services, the jail often becomes a "dumping ground" for people with untreated mental-health problems, the report states.
"That's where they're first picked up," Finke said, acknowledging the problem. "It's kind of hard to differentiate between 'Is this a mental health need? Or, is it maybe because of abuse of drugs and alcohol that's causing this?'"
'Rolling and going'
The Grimes resource center was established in July 2005, though it has yet to move into its own permanent space. The center is headquartered in spare offices at the Mental Health Mental Retardation building in Navasota. A clinic run by the Brazos Valley Community Action Agency takes up most of the space.
Todd said the community action agency has lined up a 4,800-square-foot site off Texas 6 - a space that will allow the clinic to add a mid-level practitioner and a family practice doctor who also offers prenatal care and delivers babies.
But not everything has moved so expediently, officials acknowledged. The survey itself detailed the difficulties in recruiting volunteers when trying to address health issues through community efforts. A small group of volunteers often ends up responsible for the majority of projects, which leads to burnout.
Similar situations can be found in communities across the state, said Angie Alaniz, project director for the Brazos Valley Health Partnership. But Grimes County has a strike against it that many counties don't - its geography.
"We tend to hold meetings in Navasota," she said, referring to the southwestern city. "That's where a lot of the services are offered. But we've got folks that need to come in from Bedias and Iola and Todd Mission."
Though the commission was created earlier this year, the group has decided to take a step back and undergo a reorganization of sorts, officials said. The group would like to get more people - and more brainpower - involved.
Alaniz and Miller said the group is hoping to draw in more volunteers through its next meeting Nov. 2. Nearly 100 community, government and church leaders from across the county have been invited to attend.
The goal, Alaniz said, is to inform community members of the opportunities and challenges facing Grimes County as the panel works to ensure all residents have access to health care.
And, she said, the group hopes to find out how residents want the commission to direct its attention.
"We want advice from them on how we can do a better job of this," she said. "How we can make sure all the communities are represented without it being a burden to be part of this planning process."
Some help is already on the way. The clinic is making a dent in indigent care, Finke and Miller said. Fees are based on a sliding scale, which makes procedures and visits more affordable and reduces costly trips to the Grimes St. Joseph Health Center emergency room - a tab generally split by the hospital and the county.
Commissioners are working to set up a discount pharmacy within the facility, Finke said. Miller also noted the commission's recently implemented program providing free van rides to residents who need transportation to a doctor's office or similar appointment.
"We've got two things rolling and going," Miller said. "It's a small part of what we do, but we have to start somewhere."
Obesity report