Those were the common confessions of nearly 400 randomly surveyed Franklin County residents roaming the Farmington Fair last September.

Still, Kathleen Welch looks out her office window and sees a potential taller than Tumbledown Mountain in the people and resources of her adopted home.

“There are things here you won’t see in any other part of the country,” Welch said. “If you’ve lived here a long time, you might start to take that for granted.”

Especially when the beautiful scenery won’t buy you a balanced meal.

But health can be a mind game. As an epidemiologist living and working in New Orleans, Welch witnessed the healing power of theater and art in HIV and AIDS patients. On the flip side, she found healthy professionals, herself included, buckling beneath the stress of living in a home with barred windows and fretting an astronomical crime rate.

Welch, the senior evaluator for the Franklin Community Health Network’s Healthy Community Coalition, coordinated the polling. Now it’s her task to provide the education and support that might spin the disheartening numbers in the right direction.

I wish her well.
That honor system
One out of every three adults in the survey reported a height and weight that makes them obese. Let’s not forget they were on the honor system. Imagine the percentage if each subject actually stepped on a doctor’s scale with two witnesses.

The survey also had a flurry of profoundly personal questions that could persuade even those fully satisfied with their anonymity to, ahem, compromise their answers.

Nearly 36 percent said there were two or more weeks in the previous year in which they felt sad or depressed, or lost all interest in activities they usually enjoyed. One of every three people had multiple bills they could not pay.

At least one out of five said they worried about heating their home during the winter, had dental problems that made it hard to eat, felt very alone or isolated, and knew a close friend or family member with a drug or alcohol problem.

Dozens of homes experienced job loss or food shortage. Men and women feeling a need to reduce their consumption of alcohol were common.

And the median household income in the survey was $31,459, compared to the national average of roughly $42,000.
Like we’re invisible’
“I’m very concerned,” Welch said, “but I think it does reflect what’s going on in a lot of rural areas. Twenty-five percent of the people in the United States live in rural areas. It’s almost like we’re invisible.”

Even what is seen is paradoxical.

Maine consistently ranks among America’s most livable states, but much of the health and prosperity leading to that conclusion is confined to the population center in the southern corridor. Salem and Strong aren’t Saco and South Portland.

Equally contradictory is an apparent link in the survey between poverty and obesity. Seems you don’t need a steady diet of filet mignon and baked Alaska to be robust.

“The cheapest food is often the most high-cholesterol, high-fat food. Snacks and desserts also tend to be less expensive. It’s something that needs to be addressed with people when they’re very young,” Welch said.

That’s where she comes in. Even though the local soundtrack plays a tune of unemployment, anxiety and discontent, Welch continues to bang the drum of physical activity, better nutrition and moderation.

Health club dues aren’t necessary. To start, Welch suggests spending 30 minutes per day walking outside and enjoying the mountainous majesty of Maine.
Take a deep breath
Preventive mental health is another point of emphasis.

“We’re finding that people are drinking, they’re sad, they’re depressed, yet they have to wait months to see a psychiatrist or a dentist,” Welch said. “People in Stratton are going to Canada for dental care or medication because it’s close to home and it’s good, quality care. What does that say?”

Welch acknowledged one easier-said-than-done factor that would work wonders.

“We need jobs,” she said. “My husband has a degree in architecture. He’s an artist. We’ve been here a year and he still doesn’t have a full-time job.”

To turn that around, Welch advocates self-promotion of the region and discourages any job expansion that would compromise the county’s natural resources.

But obesity and depression are two potential killers that won’t wait for economic development. So the Healthy Community Coalition is proactive, offering fitness programs with prizes for persistence and stress reduction programs for low-income families that teach meditation, deep breathing and the benefits of aromatherapy.

Good, old-fashioned fun never hurts, either.

“People should try to find something humorous in their life. Laughter is so important. It helps you detach from your present problem,” Welch said.

In other words, make it a point to return to the fair next fall. Only skip the fried dough.
Kalle Oakes is staff columnist. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].