Health care officials call for local solutions to bigger problems

Published 8:49 pm Friday, April 21, 2017

If Cullman County wants to kick the opioid abuse problem that’s plaguing the rest of the country, it’s going to be a bootstrap operation.

That’s essentially the approach Cullman Regional Medical Center CEO James Clements advocated at a health care-focused Q&A session Friday.

A trio of local officials praised the Cullman area’s support for the hospital, community health care initiatives, physicians and senior issues Friday at the community-focused roundtable event, hosted by the Cullman Area chamber of Commerce.

But they also suggested specific ways to address a number of local health care concerns presented by event emcee Brian Lacy.

“[Opioid abuse is] a community problem started by the fact that the federal and state governments are not paying for a treatment program that works — which is how you have to deal with it,” said Clements.

“So what you have is a community problem without a community solution. We’re not unique or alone in that; it’s a nationwide problem that’s present everywhere. But we’re going to have to figure out a local, community solution to this national problem, because, in a reasonable timeframe, a solution is not coming to us from above.”

Substance abuse was among a broad range of health topics Clements and his fellow panelists — Mental Healthcare of Cullman Director Chris Van Dyke and Cullman County Commission on Aging Health Promotion Coordinator Lorri Lee — covered during their hour-long session.

Many of their concerns reflected larger social trends and legislative changes, the effects of which can be distilled into one overarching worry: money.

For Van Dyke, who operates in a state where mental health services have been consolidated and slashed, the emphasis is on more robust funding for mental health services.

“Funding is the major issue for mental health, not just locally but statewide,” he said. “It’s definitely the number-one thing. That, and we also need more inpatient beds for psychiatric patients.”

Clements said the ongoing political debate over how to prop up government-administered coverage programs is of great financial significance to hospitals. “To be honest, the bigger impact is how medicare and medicaid funding will change,” he said. “Almost 40 percent of our compensation; our pay, comes from Medicare. So any slight change in how Medicare pays has a much more dramatic effect on our hospital.”

The future of Medicare and Medicaid are of similar significance to the senior population Lee’s agency serves. Yet, she said, this area’s senior population faces a more immediate difficulty: gaining ready access to basic assistance with household needs that fall just outside their routine of daily living.

“Medicaid is one thing we are watching closely,” Lee said. “We’re kind of on pins and needles, because a lot of our clients receive that service.

“…[But], while a lot of folks would think funding might be a big concern for us, it’s really not. Cullman County, as a whole, is wonderful to our seniors. But one thing we lack is a resource to refer our folks to when they have just basic needs: someone to help clean their house; someone to help mow their lawn.

“Many of these folks are on a fixed income. And I can’t tell you how many phone calls we get per week: ‘My roof’s leaking, I only make $1,000 a month, and I have no family here.’ So having a local resource to address those kinds of needs would be wonderful.”

Benjamin Bullard can be reached by phone at 256-734-2131 ext. 145.