The UnityPoint Health — Marshalltown Community Health Needs Assessment has highlighted a concern residents have about the lack of mental health care.

Jim Waterbury, who takes care of community relations for the UnityPoint region, was also the person who was responsible for the survey when it was released in the fall of 2019. Waterbury wrote the survey report when it was released at the end of December.

It was the first time the survey was conducted in Marshall, Grundy and Tama counties. Another survey will be conducted in 2022.

The survey report points out that Iowa ranks 41st in the country in terms of psychiatrists per capita and last among the states for inpatient mental health beds. Only a handful of Iowa psychiatrists specialize in children and teens. In the survey, being able to access mental health care was the primary way to address the health and well-being of youth.

“There is a shortage of mental health care,” Waterbury said. “There are not enough providers, which is the core of the issue — not enough providers and not enough beds so most people are treated on an outpatient basis.”

Waterbury said he was pleased with the strong response from residents — 502 residents and 23 agencies. He was particularly happy with the number of responses from veterans.

“I was anticipating about 90 veterans and we got double what I thought we would get,” he said.

Some of the questions were written specifically for veterans, due to the presence of Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown, and like many other people who live in the counties, mental health is the primary concern.

“We feel they have needs and concerns that need to be addressed,” Waterbury said. “Many veterans tend to have anxiety and PTSD and they were self-responding that they are dealing with that.”

The other primary concern people noted on the survey was access to health care, which Waterbury said is a very broad topic and not an easy one to address.

One of the common reasons behind the concern is the lack of specialty providers in more rural areas. Waterbury said specialists, such as psychiatrists and perhaps neurologists or endocrinologists, tend to practice in areas with larger populations.

“That leaves the smaller population areas at risk,” he said.

Survey responses

In the survey, another of the top three health problems noted by respondents was obesity. The survey report states that Iowa is the fourth heaviest state in the nation with 36 percent of adults being clinically obese, which means a body mass index greater than 30.

Getting more exercise, drinking more water and decreasing stress were the top three behaviors respondents indicated they would like to do more of.

People and agencies that responded to the survey noted that the top two risky adult behaviors apparent in the community were alcohol and street drug abuse. The risky behaviors that followed were lack of exercise and texting while driving.

The top most concerning environmental threat was unsafe housing. The report states that the reasons for unsafe housing were primarily poverty, urban decay and the slow collapse of rural communities.

The release of the survey results comes just weeks after UnityPoint announced the move of all services in Marshalltown to the South Campus and a $38 million expansion of that facility. Waterbury is expecting administrators to use the results of the survey to influence the construction.

“We are hoping as a health care system to answer some of the needs people have and improve general health care and mental health care,” Waterbury said. “I anticipate the results of the survey will drive UnityPoint decisions in Marshalltown, which is the way it should be. That is what the survey is for.”