Tedtalks: Time for a Checkup

One sure way to elicit a grimace and weary nod from others, both here in Humboldt and, frankly, anywhere in the U.S., is to complain about health care. Everyone has a story — trouble getting appointments, lack of specialists and, around here, the long trek to the Bay Area for care.

My wife and I were in our 40s when we first started coming to Humboldt. I was astonished to hear that a retired couple we met were selling their home on the beach in Trinidad and leaving because they couldn’t find the medical care they needed. What!? Leave this beautiful place because you can’t find a doctor? Ridiculous. Later, other friends who wanted to move here didn’t for the same reason.

Now well into our Medicare years, it’s an option we discuss. And we’re not alone. For many, lack of healthcare access is a critical barrier to living behind the Redwood Curtain.

This special issue of Senior News offers a look at “Health in Humboldt 2026.” It is our fourth healthcare-themed issue since 2019; the problems aren’t getting any easier.

Health care is one of the most challenging political and social issues facing Americans nationwide, with continuing debates over universal coverage versus an entrenched for-profit system. The problems are particularly difficult in rural areas like ours, where the National Rural Health Association reports an aging physician workforce and “a critical shortage, with 91% of rural counties having primary care shortages.” The result, this group says, is a spreading “medical desert” outside of urban areas.

Here in Humboldt, it must be said, we are blessed with healthcare resources far superior to many rural “desert” areas — four hospitals and a strong and well-trained corps of dedicated medical providers, back-stopped by world-class medical facilities in the Bay Area.

But there’s no denying that Humboldt needs a stronger medical infrastructure. A task force has been formed of local business and community leaders who see healthcare availability as one barrier to economic growth and recruiting and retaining workers. Our healthcare environment, they say, influences economic development, employment, education and many other aspects of life on the North Coast.

College of the Redwoods President Keith Flamer leads the New Vision for Humboldt Health Care Task Force, and in this issue, he outlines some of the challenges in his “Call to Action” (page 1). Drs. Jack Irvine and Bruce Kessler examine federal policies working against equity for lower income Americans (page 24), and report on a 21-year “doctor drain” in the number of physicians practicing in Humboldt since 2005 (page 3). Emergency room doctor Sean Hickey reflects that broad social issues and economic struggles underlie individuals’ difficult healthcare decisions that he sees played out in the ER (page 1).

Also this month: lessons from other communities’ experiences with health care, nursing, wheelchair accessibility, caregiving, illness and recovery, and planning for our final years.

There’s much to unpack on this topic — so much that we expanded this issue from our usual 24 pages to 28. Take a look (and two ibuprofen). You’ll feel better in the morning.

Ted Pease, editor of Senior News, is a PhD — the wrong kind of doctor.