To the Editor:

In Ashtabula County and rural communities around, access to healthcare is an issue. All

throughout the county we have countless acres of farming but not access to care quickly in

emergency situations. With the recent hack in Ashtabula County Medical Center, this shut

down one of the only Emergency Departments in Ashtabula County. This is a major issue that I

do not think many talk about because accidents do happen, especially on a farm. I believe that

since we are all used to medical care being a drive, nobody never saw an issue.

I am completing my nursing degree at Youngstown State University and it made me

realize what a disadvantage residents have in Ashtabula County. In Youngstown, you are at

most ten minutes from any emergency department. I know personally in Orwell, when any

emergency would happen, we would be roughly thirty minutes from any emergency

department. We all know that when someone would have a heart attack, they need medical

care quickly. This care could not be achieved quickly in any rural community.

According to the 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment, accidents were one of the

top 5 causes of death in Ashtabula County. Above accidents was also strokes and heart disease.

If Ashtabula had a way for care to be given quicker, some of these deaths could have been

prevented. What can we do to solve this issue?

Education to the community is one small change we can make. Accidents can occur

anywhere, and if the public knew how to respond and were educated, we could prevent death.

The Stop the Bleed campaign is one amazing program we could offer to our community. It is a

program that encourages bystanders to become trained, equipped and empowered to help

slow or stop bleeding in an emergency situation before professional help arrives. Another
program we could encourage and offer more in our community is CPR and first aid. Both of

these skills could help save and treat lives. A skill that I think would be important for us to

implement in our community would be stroke training. Usually this training is for medical

professionals, but if everyone knew some of the signs and symptoms, we can prevent death

and help people get to the hospital quicker. A program that does not exist but is something we

should think about because of our location would be agricultural safety education. If we could

educate our community about farm related injuries and what to do if they occur, we can either

prevent, or get help quickly and efficiently. Since our location puts us at a disadvantage,

knowing identification and treatment of injury or onset of life-threatening conditions it could

help us as a community.

If we bring light to this issue, it will make residents in Ashtabula realize how important

care is to us in rural communities.

Kortney Squibbs, Youngstown State University Nursing