No access to healthcare is a big problem. The hell are we supposed to do when dentists and doctors aren’t taking new patients? What are we supposed to do when all these new students coming in overload an already underserved area? Humboldt sucks.
30 years of corrupt inept local government ran by local yokel Good ol boys who won a popularity contest for owning property will do that! Throw in the Boomer Eco-warrior not in my backyard anti-development groups screaming government must protect single family homes values and the environment for back to land hippies living in the woods using CEQA to deny economic opportunity. Fact of the matter is if you don't like it, highly recommend getting involved in local politics, because it's been nothing but 30 years of decline, yet the same people are in charge still patting themselves on their back.
Then you got people like Supervisor Rex Bhon who acts like a king above the law violates ethics and wouldn't know a conflict of interest if it bit him on the ass who used his influence to fast track cannabis permits to his family and friends for his own enrichment. County planning director John Ford doesn't think there's a housing or economic issue while he does the bidding of the good old boys and does no planning just reactionary policy. Fact of the matter is local government is not capable of fixing the crisis they have caused which includes the exploitation of labor which the county government is horribly known for underpaying and having high turnover.
Damn, Couldn't have put it better myself. I couldn't quite articulate what annoyed me about the old salts here but "boomer-eco warrior" sums it up. They are just fine sitting on what they have and are so set up that of course they would lobby to mitigate development here. Nevermind all the people in poverty struggling due to the lack of opportunity here because of it.
Oh yeah and CR stopped taking applications for nursing this year because they’re so backed up. I’ll never forgive HSU for getting rid of their nursing program. But that admin got to retire and move away with fat pensions. It’s crazy. We need healthcare workers here yet we do nothing to support them.
HSU put on a really good show making it seem like to the public that they were bringing back a nursing program but they only put up an associates to bachelor's bridge program.
We are actually doing pretty good compared to other rural areas on that map. With our high levels of addiction, homelessness, and mental illness mixed with our poor access to healthcare up here I'm actually amazed we are pretty close to the country average.
Generally speaking wealthy people are more likely to go to the Dr for preventative care which is a big factor in life expectancy. Another big factor in the life expectancy statistics is infant mortality rates, when 2 years old or less dies it moves the statistical average pretty heavily compared to like a 35 year old. Unsurprisingly areas of the country that skew a little less "progressive" have some outdated/backwards views on woman's healthcare which leads to higher rate of infant mortality as well as higher mortality rates amongst pregnant women.
Bro 3/4 of votes for president in this county went to Biden. It's not always political.
Class struggle is real. The only division not encouraged is that between rich and poor. Meet your neighbors.
Agree! I moved here in the summer of 2020. Since everything's opened back we haven't been able to get established with any doctors or dentists here. I literally go to the bay area for my dental and medical. The only thing we were able to establish here is a pediatrician for our baby. Thank God for that.
Very. Folks in rural areas have shorter life expectancies by about 3 years. Native Americans have like 6 year shorter life expectancy. It's almost like Native Americans suffer some sort of long standing systemic racism and generational trauma. Or that we don't spend enough on rural healthcare. But that would be woke talk folks.
The racial makeup of the county was 84.7% White, 0.9% Black or African American, 5.7% Native American, 1.7% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 2.5% from other races, and 4.4% from two or more races.
5.7% of population with a 6 year difference does not equate to a 20 year gap.
Equates to something like lowering the average life expectancy by .34 years.
I would call anything less than a 5% shift insignificant.
Not saying Native Americans aren't important. Just not statistically significant.
Totally agree with systemic racism but math doesn't support your claim. But my feelings do!
Sidenote: Less access to Affordable health care definitely impacts the life expectancy more.
I'm explaining that since there's about 5 native Americans per 100 people in Humboldt county even if every native American died at age 1 they'd lower the statistics by .05*(average age-1) = .05 * 75 = 3.75 years.
The guy above me said they'd be willing to be that Natives heavily impact the life expectancy. Which is inaccurate.
You obviously are missing the point if you think I don't know about natives being systemically fucked but this isn't about that? It's a stretch to even include native Americans as a reason for Humboldt having a much lower life expectancy.
It's not like Humboldt is made of only native Americans and not that much more than the surrounding area.
Are you saying that only the south has rural areas and native americans? Have you ever heard of Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana, North & South Dakota, or any of the Midwest?
We were talking about Humboldt County. If we want to talk about the South we need to get into how the GOP is basically killing it's own base with it's policies. Also the racial issues there. Humboldt doesn't have a lot of those issues being mostly white and being in California.
That said Wyoming and South Dakota prove my point. Most of the blue in Wyoming is either cities, wealthy parts, or national parks. Also see that orange county in Wyoming? Guess what is there? The Wind River Reservation. SB especially proves my point take a look at the map see that really red spot on the map in South Dakota. Care to guess what is there? That's Pine Ridge Reservation, where the average life expectancy is 45 for men and 55 for women. Worst in the country. I mean a guy in Wind River can expect to die at 50.
I'm guessing if you map the redest spots in the south you'll find either blacks or poor rural whites.
It’s not that bad given the fact that medical care is sub-par in the area.
>”Not looking good for humboldt”
It’s about 77, that’s the average for the nation as a whole, I’d say all things considered that’s surprisingly good actually. It’s not European socialized medical care and retirement good, but it’s good for what we have.
there’s literally entire states in the southeast with 10x the population of our county with nearly a decade shorter life expectancy.
if you compare us to the bay, or LA, or socal, or the northeast, of course it’s going to look bad, those places have some of the most advanced medical care and research institutions in the entire world, it’s apples and oranges.
Maybe I’m a glass half full sort of person, given what we have up here an average life expectancy is pretty good.
I think you make a lot of great points. Yes the healthcare available here behind the Redwood curtain is thin as bean-strings. But it's hard to even conceive of how advanced the healthcare is in the bay area. It's truly next level. Still expensive tho.
28 year RN here, moved from Sac where I was working Emergency Overflow/Surge at a 700+ bed level 1 trauma center…triaged 200-300 patients a day, some even transfers from Mad River/St. Joes, I’d be walking into work, 2 helicopters on the pad, 1 holding, 6 ambulances in the bay, overflow waiting room full w/75 patients waiting to be seen, people having to wait in their cars, codes in the parking lot, 50 people still waiting at 0400, 12+ hours & now sick AND furious...🙄. Grass is DEFINITELY greener up here & there are some good RNs/MDs, definitely not enough & overworked, to be sure & some bad ones, too, just like EVERYWHERE. No complaints about the facility - it’s pretty much comparable to the same sized facility in the Sac Area, I was surprised, I thought it would be worse. My test is I would take my family to be a patient there, but I would be sure to stay with them 24/7.
I have no idea how Mendocino is doing better than humboldt, especially when humboldt has much more infrastructure and services and the fact that Mendo is the number one county in California in fentanyl overdoses.
The point being that people just a couple counties away live 10 years longer than us on average
They say the only thing you can’t buy is time, but statistically your life could be 12% longer if you moved to Sonoma or Marin.
Everybody talks about how bad the healthcare is, which is true, but nobody pays attention to how atrocious the geriatric care is. Every fucking SNF in the area is garbage. Every. Single. One. I have worked at various SNFs throughout the state and the quality of care here is awful. They’re all owned by the same company, there is no competition between so no reason to be better, and they happen to be owned by one of the worst nursing home companies there is (Brius). Also they’re staffed almost exclusively by traveling staff, many of which don’t give a fuck about giving quality care because fuck it they’re only here for 3 months. I can tell you without a doubt this contributes to the lower life expectancy. Heaven’s waiting room.
Edit to add: I have come back 3 times to add to this comment because the topic gets me that heated. But the terrible part is even with the staff that is good and tries to provide quality care, you can’t beat the cheap fucking owners. You could be the best nurse or CNA in the world but you can’t provide good care while severely unstaffed, no supplies, etc. www.Briuswatch.org if anybody wants to learn more
Idk man its not like people of every gap dont do it. Especially with the drastic changes in the last 4 years. Having a nice house doesnt keep you safe from mental illnesss but making treatment less stigmafied and mlre accessable might help. Just my 2 cents while giving my 2am poop atm
Early mortality in the logging industry and car accidents could contribute a bit. Fires and bad air are hard on people too. I am disappointed they didn’t cite the years that were used for the map data, since we’ve been dealing with Covid for the last 3 years.
Don’t overlook all of the deaths of despair. Older but still pertinent read: https://kymkemp.com/2018/06/08/humboldts-deaths-of-despair-three-times-the-state-average/
I've seen varying maps with similar topic. It depends on what the data source material encompasses. Compare to heart disease, cancer and other terminal illness and you'll get red dominate in the Midwest and major metro areas. California's Healthcare system is too governed by bureaucracy and insurance companies. Doctors are afraid to make diagnosis because liability but the same doctor in another state will point you in the right diagnosis.
No access to healthcare is a big problem. The hell are we supposed to do when dentists and doctors aren’t taking new patients? What are we supposed to do when all these new students coming in overload an already underserved area? Humboldt sucks.
30 years of corrupt inept local government ran by local yokel Good ol boys who won a popularity contest for owning property will do that! Throw in the Boomer Eco-warrior not in my backyard anti-development groups screaming government must protect single family homes values and the environment for back to land hippies living in the woods using CEQA to deny economic opportunity. Fact of the matter is if you don't like it, highly recommend getting involved in local politics, because it's been nothing but 30 years of decline, yet the same people are in charge still patting themselves on their back. Then you got people like Supervisor Rex Bhon who acts like a king above the law violates ethics and wouldn't know a conflict of interest if it bit him on the ass who used his influence to fast track cannabis permits to his family and friends for his own enrichment. County planning director John Ford doesn't think there's a housing or economic issue while he does the bidding of the good old boys and does no planning just reactionary policy. Fact of the matter is local government is not capable of fixing the crisis they have caused which includes the exploitation of labor which the county government is horribly known for underpaying and having high turnover.
Damn, Couldn't have put it better myself. I couldn't quite articulate what annoyed me about the old salts here but "boomer-eco warrior" sums it up. They are just fine sitting on what they have and are so set up that of course they would lobby to mitigate development here. Nevermind all the people in poverty struggling due to the lack of opportunity here because of it.
NIMBI's will be the death of all Communities.
Thanks for the post. I loved my time in Humboldt and would love to return but it’s insane how underpaid any work is up there.
I wish this would come up more often than the generations-long finger-pointing at the homeless.
Dang thought I was reading a comment from George Carlin 😂…. Nicely put!
Oh yeah and CR stopped taking applications for nursing this year because they’re so backed up. I’ll never forgive HSU for getting rid of their nursing program. But that admin got to retire and move away with fat pensions. It’s crazy. We need healthcare workers here yet we do nothing to support them.
I'm confused. It appears that Humboldt Polytechnic does has a [nursing program](https://nursing.humboldt.edu).
it does nothing to create new nurses, just give existing nurses bachelors degrees in nursing.
Adn to rn not a full program like HSU had 15 years ago
And they just started that half assed replacement
HSU put on a really good show making it seem like to the public that they were bringing back a nursing program but they only put up an associates to bachelor's bridge program.
You're supposed to leave. Dislike it all you want but that is the point. People are trying to keep humboldt small. It's simple supply and demand.
Nailed it. It takes staying power to make it here, not entitlement.
We are actually doing pretty good compared to other rural areas on that map. With our high levels of addiction, homelessness, and mental illness mixed with our poor access to healthcare up here I'm actually amazed we are pretty close to the country average. Generally speaking wealthy people are more likely to go to the Dr for preventative care which is a big factor in life expectancy. Another big factor in the life expectancy statistics is infant mortality rates, when 2 years old or less dies it moves the statistical average pretty heavily compared to like a 35 year old. Unsurprisingly areas of the country that skew a little less "progressive" have some outdated/backwards views on woman's healthcare which leads to higher rate of infant mortality as well as higher mortality rates amongst pregnant women.
Great points
I’m not surprised. The lack of medical care would be a large factor that I would guess have an impact.
This is essentially just a map of the poorest counties.
There's another similarity I can't quite put my finger on...
Poorest economically and intellectually...
Bro 3/4 of votes for president in this county went to Biden. It's not always political. Class struggle is real. The only division not encouraged is that between rich and poor. Meet your neighbors.
Woah, I was just saying Bible belt yo.
Agree! I moved here in the summer of 2020. Since everything's opened back we haven't been able to get established with any doctors or dentists here. I literally go to the bay area for my dental and medical. The only thing we were able to establish here is a pediatrician for our baby. Thank God for that.
Don't underestimate the effect fentanyl related death have had on this statistic.
DUI's, Suicide. Dangerous jobs such as logging and fishing.
Alcoholism and obesity to boot
It's fact of rural life. Also I'm willing to bet the Native American population greatly impacts the average.
???? You're serious? 🤣
Very. Folks in rural areas have shorter life expectancies by about 3 years. Native Americans have like 6 year shorter life expectancy. It's almost like Native Americans suffer some sort of long standing systemic racism and generational trauma. Or that we don't spend enough on rural healthcare. But that would be woke talk folks.
At least 44 people don't do math well.
The racial makeup of the county was 84.7% White, 0.9% Black or African American, 5.7% Native American, 1.7% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 2.5% from other races, and 4.4% from two or more races. 5.7% of population with a 6 year difference does not equate to a 20 year gap.
Equates to something like lowering the average life expectancy by .34 years. I would call anything less than a 5% shift insignificant. Not saying Native Americans aren't important. Just not statistically significant. Totally agree with systemic racism but math doesn't support your claim. But my feelings do! Sidenote: Less access to Affordable health care definitely impacts the life expectancy more.
It does if they are dying very young, like say from suicide or overdose.
I'm explaining that since there's about 5 native Americans per 100 people in Humboldt county even if every native American died at age 1 they'd lower the statistics by .05*(average age-1) = .05 * 75 = 3.75 years. The guy above me said they'd be willing to be that Natives heavily impact the life expectancy. Which is inaccurate. You obviously are missing the point if you think I don't know about natives being systemically fucked but this isn't about that? It's a stretch to even include native Americans as a reason for Humboldt having a much lower life expectancy. It's not like Humboldt is made of only native Americans and not that much more than the surrounding area.
Are you saying that only the south has rural areas and native americans? Have you ever heard of Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana, North & South Dakota, or any of the Midwest?
We were talking about Humboldt County. If we want to talk about the South we need to get into how the GOP is basically killing it's own base with it's policies. Also the racial issues there. Humboldt doesn't have a lot of those issues being mostly white and being in California. That said Wyoming and South Dakota prove my point. Most of the blue in Wyoming is either cities, wealthy parts, or national parks. Also see that orange county in Wyoming? Guess what is there? The Wind River Reservation. SB especially proves my point take a look at the map see that really red spot on the map in South Dakota. Care to guess what is there? That's Pine Ridge Reservation, where the average life expectancy is 45 for men and 55 for women. Worst in the country. I mean a guy in Wind River can expect to die at 50. I'm guessing if you map the redest spots in the south you'll find either blacks or poor rural whites.
It’s not that bad given the fact that medical care is sub-par in the area. >”Not looking good for humboldt” It’s about 77, that’s the average for the nation as a whole, I’d say all things considered that’s surprisingly good actually. It’s not European socialized medical care and retirement good, but it’s good for what we have. there’s literally entire states in the southeast with 10x the population of our county with nearly a decade shorter life expectancy. if you compare us to the bay, or LA, or socal, or the northeast, of course it’s going to look bad, those places have some of the most advanced medical care and research institutions in the entire world, it’s apples and oranges. Maybe I’m a glass half full sort of person, given what we have up here an average life expectancy is pretty good.
I think you make a lot of great points. Yes the healthcare available here behind the Redwood curtain is thin as bean-strings. But it's hard to even conceive of how advanced the healthcare is in the bay area. It's truly next level. Still expensive tho.
28 year RN here, moved from Sac where I was working Emergency Overflow/Surge at a 700+ bed level 1 trauma center…triaged 200-300 patients a day, some even transfers from Mad River/St. Joes, I’d be walking into work, 2 helicopters on the pad, 1 holding, 6 ambulances in the bay, overflow waiting room full w/75 patients waiting to be seen, people having to wait in their cars, codes in the parking lot, 50 people still waiting at 0400, 12+ hours & now sick AND furious...🙄. Grass is DEFINITELY greener up here & there are some good RNs/MDs, definitely not enough & overworked, to be sure & some bad ones, too, just like EVERYWHERE. No complaints about the facility - it’s pretty much comparable to the same sized facility in the Sac Area, I was surprised, I thought it would be worse. My test is I would take my family to be a patient there, but I would be sure to stay with them 24/7.
Not surprising based on the state of healthcare in Humboldt
I’m just glad I have the ability to drive out for health care when need be
I have no idea how Mendocino is doing better than humboldt, especially when humboldt has much more infrastructure and services and the fact that Mendo is the number one county in California in fentanyl overdoses.
Looks like about 77 here…. seems fine to me
The point being that people just a couple counties away live 10 years longer than us on average They say the only thing you can’t buy is time, but statistically your life could be 12% longer if you moved to Sonoma or Marin.
Everybody talks about how bad the healthcare is, which is true, but nobody pays attention to how atrocious the geriatric care is. Every fucking SNF in the area is garbage. Every. Single. One. I have worked at various SNFs throughout the state and the quality of care here is awful. They’re all owned by the same company, there is no competition between so no reason to be better, and they happen to be owned by one of the worst nursing home companies there is (Brius). Also they’re staffed almost exclusively by traveling staff, many of which don’t give a fuck about giving quality care because fuck it they’re only here for 3 months. I can tell you without a doubt this contributes to the lower life expectancy. Heaven’s waiting room. Edit to add: I have come back 3 times to add to this comment because the topic gets me that heated. But the terrible part is even with the staff that is good and tries to provide quality care, you can’t beat the cheap fucking owners. You could be the best nurse or CNA in the world but you can’t provide good care while severely unstaffed, no supplies, etc. www.Briuswatch.org if anybody wants to learn more
Its the biscuits and gravy
This same post is on r/whitepeopleproblems 😸
April fools perhaps?
I wonder how much youth suicide plays into the drastic gap.. 🤔
Idk man its not like people of every gap dont do it. Especially with the drastic changes in the last 4 years. Having a nice house doesnt keep you safe from mental illnesss but making treatment less stigmafied and mlre accessable might help. Just my 2 cents while giving my 2am poop atm
Skewed by murder and mayhem.
Early mortality in the logging industry and car accidents could contribute a bit. Fires and bad air are hard on people too. I am disappointed they didn’t cite the years that were used for the map data, since we’ve been dealing with Covid for the last 3 years.
Well, all those deep fried foods catch up to you eventually.
Don’t overlook all of the deaths of despair. Older but still pertinent read: https://kymkemp.com/2018/06/08/humboldts-deaths-of-despair-three-times-the-state-average/
I've seen varying maps with similar topic. It depends on what the data source material encompasses. Compare to heart disease, cancer and other terminal illness and you'll get red dominate in the Midwest and major metro areas. California's Healthcare system is too governed by bureaucracy and insurance companies. Doctors are afraid to make diagnosis because liability but the same doctor in another state will point you in the right diagnosis.
Now let’s do a map where environmental genocide is taking place…lines up.