ARLINGTON, GA (WALB) – A new study of our health ranks Calhoun County last in the state.
Double digit unemployment and a high number of people with no health insurance are among the top reasons experts and residents say the county gets such low marks for overall health.
Calhoun Memorial Hospital is working to turn those statistics around.
The not-for-profit facility in Arlington is one of the few rural hospitals left in south Georgia.
Doctors there see about 400 emergency patients a month.
Diabetes and hypertension are among the most common illnesses they treat, but often people wait too late get treated.
"I think it's important for people to get checkups, but until we're able to get insurance companies to cover the costs of immunizations and screenings that will help in early diagnosis, I don't think we can improve a great deal on that situation," said Hospital Authority Calhoun County CEO Earl Whiteley.
Whiteley says with limited county property tax revenue, they depend on outside funding to keep the hospital going and that's also hard to come by these days.
Calhoun County deals with nearly 26% or more in families and individuals living below the poverty level.
Stewart, Quitman, Randolph, Terrell, and Crisp counties are also ranked in the bottom ten in the study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
- Click HERE for an interactive map with statistics for all Georgia counties.
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