The Berkshires, Hampden are the least healthy counties in Mass., new study shows

Submitted by bostonglobe t3_125n84b in massachusetts

From Globe.com:

Massachusetts residents are healthier than the average American, according to a national survey of health data, but their health varies widely based on where they live.

The University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute on Wednesday released its annual rankings of the health of US counties, based on more than 90 factors such as food security, transportation, housing, education and air pollution. The institute also released data that compared the overall health of each state to the national average.

Researchers found that the Commonwealth is healthier than most states. Massachusetts residents smoke less, are less likely to be obese and are more physically active than average Americans. Residents are also more likely to have completed high school, obtained some level of higher education and are more likely to vote, all factors that contribute to overall health.

However, that health is not evenly distributed, according to the report, which ranked Nantucket and Middlesex counties as the healthiest and Berkshire and Hampden counties as the least healthy. Suffolk County, home to Boston, Revere and Chelsea, ranked eleventh out of 14.

How long you live, for example, can depend on where you live. Residents of Nantucket county were found to have a life expectancy of 83 years, almost 6 years longer than residents of Hampden County, which includes Springfield and Holyoke, who lived on average to 77.4, researchers found.

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thetaterman314 t1_je4ydfq wrote

No surprise there. There are only 3 2 hospitals in all of Berkshire county. When it takes 30 minutes for an ambulance to get to you and then 45 minutes for it to get to the nearest hospital, more people are going to die from medical emergencies.

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dementedmunster t1_je5vsog wrote

I know BMC and Fairview, what's the third hospital?

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thetaterman314 t1_je5xyl4 wrote

The one in North Adams, I can’t remember the name

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dementedmunster t1_je5zmr7 wrote

Oh yeah, there's just an emergency room there, the hospital closed almost ten years ago. And for anything serious I think you'd just get sent to Pittsfield anyway.

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thetaterman314 t1_je60tp9 wrote

Dang I didn’t know they’d closed down. I’ve never been (always go to BMC) and I wouldn’t have known it existed except my brother was born there.

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NightWalk77 t1_je4wlfl wrote

I wonder if access to healthcare was a factor? I've lived with major medical issues my whole life so I don't expect to live to the average. Now in my mid 40s. I live in Essex county.

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ZaphodG t1_je9srgl wrote

Cigarettes, the dollar menu, and lack of exercise matter a heck of a lot more than health care access. Very few affluent people smoke. Affluent people tend to eat healthier. Affluent people tend to be more physically fit. Money matters some but behavior is the critical thing. If you need health care access for chronic behavior-induced problems, it’s already too late.

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DeliPaper t1_je5aez5 wrote

Baystate assigned me to doctors who retired before they had openings 3 times and rescheduled an appointment without telling me. Lef the waiting for five years. It also probably has something to do with the lack of economic opportunity.

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exactlyw t1_je5611q wrote

Other commenters have noted the Berkshires have less access but when I lived there quality seemed to be a concern too. We used to call it Berkshire Murder Center...but it's been a long time so I have no idea if it holds true today.

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DeliPaper t1_je5akgx wrote

Noble Hospital, too. The joke was always "Go in with a broken finger, leave with a broken arm". At least, until they gave a few hundred people AIDS

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rosievee t1_je62q5r wrote

Oof, I appreciate this post. We're trying to decide where we want to settle in MA and I would not have thought the western MA healthcare was so poor.

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exactlyw t1_je64el2 wrote

Honestly I don't think it was dramatically worse than any other rural area I've lived in. They all suffer from basically the same issues- poor infrastructure, poor access to care, difficulty in attracting applicants to most competitive healthcare roles (including MDs and DOs), underfunded, etc. I've lived in Western MA and Boston (never central MA) and Western MA may as well be a completely different state.

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PaisleyEgg t1_je5ynlo wrote

CDH - Cooley Dickinson Hospital, we used to call Come Die Here.

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ADireSquire t1_je7bumg wrote

My wife is a nurse (not at cooley dick) and she tells me the phrase they use to talk about cooley dick goes "killin 'em quick at Cooley Dick"

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Phuni44 t1_je6l5z9 wrote

Life expectancy and wealth are related. Generally speaking wealth brings longevity. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of towns. I’d bet that folks in Lenox and Stockbridge have the same as Nantucket. But towns like North Adams and GE polluted Pittsfield help skew the number down.

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Comfortable-Scar4643 t1_je5dth2 wrote

Could it be diet, too? Access to healthy food? Lifestyle?

Or is it overwhelmingly access to healthcare?

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UncleCustard t1_je6brzf wrote

Access to healthcare would be the main contributing factor and I would even say GOOD quality healthcare is not really an option here at all. Noble and Baystate are laughable at best. My mom recently had a kidney transplant at UMass medical center in Worcester. Amazing experience. Amazing facility. I walked in the first time many years ago to UMass and went "oh those hospitals on TV aren't fantasy places."

I can't even begin to tell you the horror stories of baystate. But I'll sum it up by the time a doctor dropped an iPad on my head and started laughing uncontrollably. I was there for a concussion.

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nixiedust t1_je71774 wrote

UMass Worcester is amazing but Brigham & Women's was the closest I've seen to a TV hospital. Every doctor was like an international celebrity model. The cath lab looked like the Starship Enterprise.

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hour_of_the_rat t1_je7josw wrote

I have been in and out of Baystate my entire life. I have always liked the care. One of their GIs saved my life with an operation none of his colleagues said would work.

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UncleCustard t1_je7qguj wrote

You probably wouldn't have to keep going back if it was better. /s

I'm glad they have helped you. It's not ALL bad. The doctors at least have an associates degree there.

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starsandfrost t1_je7n7xk wrote

> I can't even begin to tell you the horror stories of baystate. But I'll sum it up by the time a doctor dropped an iPad on my head and started laughing uncontrollably. I was there for a concussion.

Can confirm. I was told by my Baystate PCP that their office couldn't/wouldn't diagnose or treat strep throat. I can't imagine how it is if you have cancer or something.

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gugalgirl t1_je71un2 wrote

Lack of access to care is definitely the primary factor. I've since moved away, but my elderly parents still live in Hampshire County. I've been horrified by the way my mom is treated by her providers and she doesn't have any choice to go to someone else because there is no one else or the wait lists make it impossible.

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No_Historian718 t1_je5jdq4 wrote

City dwellers walk more- they just do

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Roberto-Del-Camino t1_je5xzwl wrote

Then why is 100% urban Suffolk County 11th out of 14? It’s home to the finest hospitals in the world. It really comes down to economics more than anything.

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AboyNamedBort t1_je6dr5o wrote

The poor people in Suffolk Country would be more unhealthy if they walked less. So yes its economics. There is also a lot of air pollution from cars and planes in the Boston area.

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Roberto-Del-Camino t1_je6m1qm wrote

First off, love your username. Do you still have that bicycle license plate?

Second, life expectancy for poor people is not just related to the amount of exercise they get. Infant mortality, manual labor, and violent crime all have a much higher impact on poor people than well-off people.

Add in poor diets (because junk food is cheaper than healthy food) and genetic predisposition to some diseases by historically impoverished segments of the population and it’s a recipe for shorter lives.

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No_Historian718 t1_je5yk12 wrote

🤷🏼‍♀️

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Roberto-Del-Camino t1_je604t4 wrote

If you compare per capita income, by county, to life expectancy, by county, it’s almost an exact correlation. Otherwise, Suffolk county would have the highest life expectancy in the United States, or maybe the world. It’s completely urban, and it’s home to tremendous medical facilities.

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pinko-perchik t1_je7vx9x wrote

If this doesn’t prove social determinants of health, what does?

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