Cape Cod Hospital (CCH) has been designated as the highest-rated hospital in Massachusetts in the category of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) 30-day mortality—the likelihood of someone surviving at least 30 days after a heart attack.
According to the recent report by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CCH is one of only 17 other hospitals of approximately 4,500 measured nationally exceeding the national average. Of 64 hospitals measured in Massachusetts, only CCH scored better than the national rate.
This performance rating is particularly important due to the Cape’s “high incidence of heart disease because of the older population of the area,” said Stephen L. Abbott, President and CEO of Cape Cod Healthcare.
It’s nothing in the water. Cape Codders are not getting more prone to Alzheimer’s Disease.
It’s just that there are getting to be more of us and since the Cape population tends to be, well, elderly, it just follows that there will be more Alzheimer’s. Nearly twice as many cases by 2020 as a matter of fact, according to a recent study commissioned by Alzheimer’s Services of Cape Cod & the Islands.
These figures may seem off-putting…but wait a minute.
Latest available figures list the 2005 population estimate for Barnstable County as 220,838. This is expected to grow to 299,035 by 2020, a jump of 34 percent. The percentage of our population 65 or older will increase during that period by eight points from 23 to 31 percent. Yet the percentage of folks with Alzheimer’s is expected to increase by only a single point, from three to four percent.
Still there’s that huge jump in raw numbers from estimates of 6,621 cases to 11,958.
And this is the figure that has Alzheimer’s Services actively planning for a stressful future. They already are adding staff and recently unveiled a wide-ranging Strategic Plan for the future.
A major component is regionalization. Augmenting their current headquarters in Hyannis, part-time satellite offices will be established in the Upper and Lower Cape and both islands. Enhancements in case management, support services and capability of care-givers; clinical service development through creation of an interdisciplinary Advisory Council; plus robust fund-raising to support improved technology and a campaign to raise community awareness are all part of the package.
New staff members include Joanne Parsons as Director of Client Services; Victor Naklicki of South Dennis as Data & Finance Coordinator; and, in newly created positions, Roberta “Bobbie” Jordan of Sandwich, Manager of Client Services; Gail Quinn of Cotuit, Manager of Education & Professional Development; and Kristine Callahan of Centerville, Outreach & Marketing Coordinator.
Three new board members are Dore Butler of South Chatham, Shirley Frye of Falmouth and Michael Trainor.
This spring, even more sobering numbers dealing with mental health became available from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI).
Overall, Massachusetts rated only a C- in care for the mentally ill, not much better than the D for the nation as a whole. (There were no A’s.) We got a B+ for Recovery Support, but an F for Information Access.
And while we rated fourth in the nation in per capita income, we were 11th in total spending and only 15th in per capita spending on mental health.
Major needs: funding and investment, changes in Medicaid and service delivery, housing and rehabilitation support, jail diversion and co-occurring disorder integration.
But this from Elizabeth Childs, outgoing head of the Department of Mental Health: Massachusetts is No. 1 nationally in regulating restraints of the mentally ill.
In general health care, a State University of New York-Albany study shows Massachusetts first nationally in physicians per capita (50 percent higher than the national average); fourth in Registered Nurses per capita; and fifth in Social Workers.
But this physician ranking doesn’t seem to help the Cape. Dr. Arthur F. Bickford, an outspoken local physician, greeted newly-appointed Department of Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach on a recent get-acquainted visit by pointing out, “When it comes to doctors, Cape Cod remains the most underserved county in the nation.”