Unmet Need in the Community

Of the estimated 446,189 people living in Guilford County, approximately 66,747 are uninsured, including 12,475 in the 0-17 age group-- 11% of the youth population.  This is in addition to the already existing 50,156 Medicaid recipients. (N.C Institute of Medicine, Appendix B, Uninsured Seen by Safety Net Providers).  20.1% of children are living in poverty (2003) and 46.4 % are enrolled in free/reduced price school meals (2005).  543 children (0-3) were enrolled in early intervention services to reduce the effects of developmental delay, and/or chronic illness.

Issues in child health that affect Guilford County:

Behavioral Health:

• Anxiety disorders and disruptive behavior disorders are the most prevalent of the mental disorders; affecting up to 3,544 to 5,463 children and adolescents in Guilford County, respectively.
• The Guilford County Schools Youth Risk Behavior Survey (2003) reported that 26.5% of middle school (MS) students and 31.4% of high school (HS) students experienced symptoms consistent with depression and that 17.9% of MS students and 17% of HS students seriously considered suicide in the past year.

Guilford Child Health, Inc., has implemented, through grant funding, a psychological; psychiatric counseling and follow-up program on practice sites to care for those children who have no other alternative for psychological care due to the divesting of The Guilford Center—the mental health provider. 

Obesity: GCH did a small random chart audit of 300 charts, which was inclusive of all three sites. The sample size included children from 24 months to16 years of age. The results were 23.3 percent of those sampled were considered to be overweight or obese and 16.3 percent were at risk for being overweight.  When an encounter audit was conducted for a month on all patients coming to GCH for a physical examination (not a random sample), the percentage of children considered to be overweight, obese, or at risk for being overweight was 40-45%.  The North Carolina-Nutrition and Physical Activity Surveillance System (NC_NPASS) provided 2003 statistics on prevalence of children being overweight and at risk for being overweight by age and county. In Guilford County, for those between 2-18 years of age, 12.9 percent were at risk for being overweight, and the statistics showed 11.8 percent are clinically overweight. 

Asthma: According to the Guilford County Health Department, The number of children with asthma in Guilford County is increasing. Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children today. It is also the No. 1 reason why children miss school and one of the leading reasons why children visit the Emergency Room and are admitted to the hospital.