College Students and Town Members Overboard at Festival

At this past festival "Cortaca" weekend featuring football games against Ithaca College, at SUNY Cortland, things got a little crazy.  Cortaca has always brought alumni back to the smaller town of Cortland to revisit their alma mater.  However, this time, things got a little crazy, attracting the attention of national newspapers even, see below, the Huffington Post's college online news.  It was described by some as a "riot" and "destructive culture.  The town is determined to turn this reputation around so that the festival can continue to bring alumni back.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/18/suny-cortland-cortaca-2013-riot_n_4297105.html

Hazard Mitigation Plan for Cayuga County

About a year ago, I wrote about a few different hazards inherent to many citizens of Cayuga County including barn fires, exposure to chemicals, and more.  This year, I want to highlight the plan that the Cayuga County Government has installed to help plan for disasters, through preventative measures including identification and risk reduction, as well as secondary prevention if flooding or severe winter storms occur.  I was very impressed to find such a detailed document, with options for citizen involvement, lists of county contacts, as well as specific plans for each village and community.  It is comforting to know that a community that would potentially have trouble accessing relief and medical care during a disaster is so aware of the circumstances that are possible and have planned for such.  This isn't just a one time deal either-- the plan is formally revised every 5 years, and grant funding is available for plans and projects that communities find important for their safety.  A great thing also is that the program involves several preventative steps that include maintenance of large machinery and generators, but also include educational programs to teach citizens about the program and make them aware that they are supported in disasters so hopefully if something were to happen, all citizens would reach out and not suffer.

http://www.cayugacounty.us/DoingBusiness/PlanningandEconomicDevelopment/EnvironmentalProtection/HazardMitigation.aspx

http://www.cayugacounty.us/DoingBusiness/PlanningandEconomicDevelopment/EnvironmentalProtection/HazardMitigation/Introduction.aspx

Blogging about Cayuga County

Learning about Cayuga County has been a great learning experience this past year!  It culminated in a research paper where I interviewed Mr. Lyons and Dr. Gioia about Cayuga County and their involvement as Director of Cayuga Community Health Network and Medical Consultant for Cayuga Health Department, respectively.  Cayuga is a special rural community with some unique problems but overall a very supportive and integrated healthcare system.  It is limited at times by funds to support preventative programs, but the existence of these programs have proven to have great outcomes in Cayuga.  I look forward to keeping up with current news in Cayuga!

Healthy Places to Live, Work, and Play

Although sure there are acute conditions that pop up every so often, the impact of chronic illness impacts many lives, but is not as obvious.  The Cayuga County Department of Health, Department of Community Health Services is working on taking many steps to make the outdoors of Cayuga County more accessible and an atmosphere where families can live, eat, and play outdoors safely and conveniently.  A few of the initiatives include creating community gardens, partnering with restaurants to offer healthier menu choices, promoting farmer's markets and local produce, enhancing county trails, and working on transportation policies.  All of these efforts will make a huge difference in a rural community like Cayuga-- there is so much space and so many resources for healthy produce, outdoor physical activity, and overall healthy choices that will lower risk of obesity, type two diabetes, and more.  However, without initiatives like this, oftentimes, county citizens are just not aware that they too could walk on trails and even grow their own fresh produce.  Also, throughout working with Cayuga County this year, I've heard numerous times what an issue transportation is.  So although this is more of a general initiative, improving transportation policies and making streets safer will allow children to play outside more often, and it will allow those who might not otherwise have access to the hospital, to be able to get adequate healthcare.

As a doctor, I think my role in promoting healthy living is extremely important and its all about the resources I'm aware of and what I suggest to my patients.  I can only make a difference if I give them a "prescription" for ways they can change their lifestyles feasibly and start living a healthier life.

http://web.cayugacounty.us/web/Departments/HealthDepartment/CommunityHealthServices/CreatingHealthyPlacestoLiveWorkandPlay.aspx

Cayuga Medical Center

To extrapolate on last month's post, I want to focus on another patient-centered medical home model found in Cayuga County.  If there is something that this county is doing right when it comes to healthcare, their holistic approach is certainly it!!  The Cayuga Medical Center is a large, 204 bed hospital hosting over 200 physicians from various subspecialties.  Their clinical services include bariatrics, cancer treatment (including radiation), a healthy living department, orthopedics and sports medicine, maternal and pediatrics, physical therapy, pulmonary medicine, a stroke center and more.  They have an emergency department, urgent care, as well as outpatient departments.  They have laboratories at 5 of the medical locations for easy access.  It truly makes healthcare easy for those who live in Cayuga county and surrounding areas.  In addition to physicians, the staff boasts PhDs, RNs, and more.  They are proud to be a "comprehensive medical center" to offer "attentive and compassionate care to each patient who comes through our doors.  Our patients and families are at the center of everything we do."  This non-for-profit organization certainly seems to be effective, serving more than 150,000 area residents, allowing them access to top-notch medical care without extensive travel.

I do see myself participating in such a model like the patient-centered medical home and think it is truly an important way to advance the practice of healthcare in the United States.  So much more can be achieved when preventative medicine, subspecialties, and primary care work together.  This helps to decrease unnecessary ordering of laboratory tests, waits for referrals, and more.

http://www.cayugamed.org/content.cfm?page=mission

Cayuga Community Health Network

Healthcare in a community is successful when it incorporates many healthcare professionals, leading to a holistic approach to not just the individual, but also community health.  There is a reason there are different degrees that professionals acquire, it is because there are different jobs that each professional is taught to accomplish.  Cayuga County, founded under the Cayuga County health department and medical society, has an amazing preventative medicine program called Cayuga Community Health Network (www.cayugahealthnetwork.org) that is a collaborative team of healthcare professionals and human service leaders who work together to set up preventative programs and improve access to care.  I think this is a great example of how important a healthcare team can be, even outside of the traditional sense of a healthcare team in a physician's office.  The board consists of doctors, RNs, MPHs, those who facilitate child medicare enrollment, licensed mental health counselors, as well as many coordinators to carry out programs.

Their main programs include Diabetes prevention, a Tobacco free partnership, and farmer's market.  The Diabetes prevention program is based on a funded state program that was cancelled in 2009 due to lack of funds, but continues in Cayuga county thanks to sponsors and donations.  They provide cooking classes, support groups, educational lectures, and more.  The network even collaborates with other initiatives outside their immediate realm of services-- for example they are currently collaborating with the Oral Health Initiative Project to improve access to dental care, a great preventative service which can drastically influence overall health.

I am proud that such a great preventative program that really has a loud voice exists in a rural county such as Cayuga County, and I believe that this type of a program is something that NEEDS all healthcare professionals to execute correctly-- the entire process including collaboration, planning, reaching out to sponsors and gaining support, as well as executing programs and services.

www.cayugahealthnetwork.org

How Cayuga County measures up

The website "County Health Rankings & Roadmaps" by the University of Wisconsin lists statistics for each county in the United States and it was interesting to see how Cayuga County does in certain categories compared to other counties in New York State and the United States.  Cayuga's mortality (premature death) is slightly higher than New York's and the nation's, and poor mental health days are slightly higher (taking into account the variation the large error margin of a county versus a nation), but the low birth weight rate is lower than New York's, but higher than the national average.  In terms of socioeconomic factors, Cayuga has a higher high school graduation rate than New York, but lower percentage of those who continue onto college.  For unemployment, children in poverty, inadequate social support, children in single-parent households, and violent crime rate, Cayuga tends to be higher than the national average, but lower than the New York average (but close to New York's averages).


One statistic that stuck out with me is the ratio of population to primary care physicians.  While the national average is 631:1, Cayuga County sticks out with a shocking 3,068:1 ratio.  This really demonstrates a need in the county for primary care physicians, as demonstrated by percentages of preventable, harmful activities such as adult smokers and high excessive drinking percentages.  They also have an unusually low rate of access to recreational facilities.  While bringing primary care physicians into the area is important, I would suggest that improving recreational facilities and educational community facilities may help lower some higher rates of preventable risky behavior.

On another note, Cayuga County has an unusually high percentage of mammography screening, so clearly the primary care physicians in the area are doing their best in terms of prevention!

http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/app/new-york/2012/cayuga/county/1/overall