Summary
46 million Americans live in rural areas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They're more likely to die than someone who lives in an urban area due to limited access to emergency services. Morning Edition visited Elberton, Georgia, which bills itself as the “Granite Capital of the World”
Georgia ranked 49th in access to mental health care and first in prevalence of mental illness. Dr. Jonathan Poon says he and other doctors here have noticed mental health needs have become more of an issue. “We just don't have really a stable mental health program here,” Poon said.
Despite the challenge of accessing health care, Sylvia Chapman tells us why this small town life appeals to her. “I don’t have to fight traffic in the metro areas,” she says. ‘I think there's just this overall stigma that mental health is maybe more so based on your behavior and your beliefs and pull up your bootstraps and just get over it.’
