By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
DODGE CITY—Despite significantly higher rates of suicide among rural residents, mental health resources in rural Kansas continue to be lacking, panelists in Dodge City said last week.
A panel sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, also known as NAMI, met in Dodge City to discuss the challenges of rural mental health.
People in rural areas are 64 to 68 percent more likely to die by suicide than people in urban areas, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The panel was asked what they saw as challenges to providing mental health services in western Kansas.
Itzel Moya of NAMI Southwest Kansas grew up in a Spanish-speaking home and said Kansas has a lack of services and education materials in Spanish.
"We have more providers who speak Spanish compared to when I was growing up, but it could be better," she said.
A clergy member from Garden City said 45 languages are spoken in that community, and it's impossible to fully address all the needs of so many diverse cultures.
"There's not a culture of southwest Kansas. There's a multitude of cultures in southwest Kansas," he said.
Eric Van Allen of CareSource, a lifelong western Kansas resident, said he had concerns about social isolation. Young people, including his own children, experienced significant isolation during the pandemic.
"Farmers spend hours and hours on tractors in their own thoughts. They are represented in high suicide rates. Those are some of the challenges we face. I don’t think we have all of the solutions, and that's why I think this room is so powerful."
Brian Hastings, farmer/rancher and NAMI Kansas board member, said western Kansas service providers have to cover many miles and have too much to do.
"We talk about burnout among farmers and ranchers, but medical providers are having their issues, too," he said. "Money is also a big issue. Money flows from Topeka. It flows about the same as our river flows in Dodge City. It doesn't."
High Plains Mental Health is the community mental health provider for Ellis County. It also services 19 other counties in northwest Kansas, including Cheyenne, Decatur, Gove, Graham, Logan, Ness, Norton, Osborne, Phillips, Rawlins, Rooks, Rush, Russell, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Thomas, Trego and Wallace counties.
Farmers and ranchers are very independent, and convincing them to seek mental health services can be difficult, Hastings said.
"He may not know why his buddy is drinking so much beer. It used to be you only drank beer after 6 o'clock. Now they're drinking beer at 8 and 9 o'clock and filling up coolers and going out to the fields. It's a problem. It's depression," he said.
Connections are not being made, he said.
Chuck Strand of Rural Minds, a national non-profit, said self-reliance can be a challenge and an opportunity.
"Someone mentioned the challenge of people in rural communities being very self-reliant and do-it-yourself," Strand said. "That mindset can be necessary to survive and thrive in rural communities, but it can be a real challenge when that mindset is driving a response to a mental health challenge or a potential mental illness."
Rural Minds offers the information and resources so people can do it themselves, he said.
Rural communities have a lack of access to both mental and physical health providers, Strand said. Telehealth has filled some of that gap. However, 30 percent of rural homes don't have access to reliable internet access.
Sim Wimbush, panelist from Anthem Health, said transportation is an ongoing challenge for many rural residents. Because the public health emergency sparked by the pandemic has ended, some insurance companies are no longer allowing mental health assessments to be done through telemedicine.
A man from Hill City who was attending the conference ran into this roadblock. He and his family just moved to western Kansas from Lindsborg. He had hoped to continue to use his current providers through telemedicine. However, Medicare said he could not. Now, the family has to find a new provider.
In rural areas, clients may have to drive an hour or more to drive to a location where they can have a mental health appointment in person.
Inpatient mental health beds in western Kansas continue to be lacking. Gov. Kelly has placed a focus on increasing inpatient services on a state level, and a new facility is under construction in Wichita.
Western Kansas is primarily served by the state hospital in Larned, but it has not been open to its state-licensed capacity since the onset of the pandemic.
"Wichita is three and a half hours away from us," Rachel Clews, moderator from K-State Extension, said. "We know it's successful when families are a part of the healing process. If a family has transportation problems and can't get there, it's a detriment to the people who need served."
Hastings said he would like to see more beds opened in western Kansas. In lieu of a new inpatient facility, an alternative could be regional crisis stabilization units. This would be a step down from inpatient care and be available for clients who need shorter-term stays.
Funding continues to be an obstacle. Services are available for people who receive Medicare and Medicaid, but many of the clients who need crisis intervention are not Medicaid-eligible.
The group discussed the need to recruit more people to work in mental health professions. Student loan forgiveness could help recruit more people in the field, panelists said. Mental health professionals are required to have high levels of education but don't earn as much as medical professionals.
Lay people also can receive mental health first aid training, which is available through High Plains Mental Health Center.
"We need to normalize the conversation," Van Allen said.
RELATED STORY: 988 Crisis, Suicide Lifeline fills gap in rural Kansas but has limitations
Other resources
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
NAMI Golden Plains, which serves Ellis, Graham, Lane, Ness, Rooks, Rush and Trego counties, can be reached at [email protected] or 785-214-4538 or follow them on Facebook at facebook.com/NAMIGoldenPlains
A combined NAMI Golden Plains Connection and Family Support Group, which is for people with a mental illness or who have family members with a mental illness, meets the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Oak Plaza, 103C E. 27th St., Hays.
NOTE: The NAMI Golden Plains Connection Support Group is now offered as a hybrid/in-person meeting as desired. Contact [email protected] if you wish to attend by Zoom.
NAMI campus FHSU meets at 3:30 p.m. every other Wednesday in Rarick Hall, room 107. The next meeting is Sept. 6.
American Society for Suicide Prevention
National Institute of Mental Health
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
High Plains Independence—Social and peer support, 1200 Canterbury, Hays, KS, 785-621-4188