The Bethesda Clinic

<% PageName = "OurPurpose" %> The Bethesda Clinic

1148 Pulaski Highway
Suite 107-317
Bear, DE 19701
Phone: 302.266.0591

Email: info@TheBethesdaClinic.com

Who We Are

Our Purpose

The need for our clinic is represented through the statistics sited in this section. The Bethesda Clinic, Inc. plans to use the reported data to increase our knowledge of social well being and to focus our efforts on issues which require the most attention.

According to the latest study on poverty, U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in 2004, 17.8% of families with children under the age of 18 were under the poverty level across the nation.

According to the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimate Study of 2003, the percent of children between the ages of 0 and 17 under the poverty level in Delaware was 13% or over 25,000 children. New Castle County poverty level was at 10.1%. The Census Bureau reported that 10% or over 600 families with children in the city of New Castle are under the poverty level.

New Castle County’s rate of births to single mothers under age 20 is at 92%; 2% higher than the state rate and 12% higher than the national average.

Between 1998 and 2002, 9% of Delaware babies were born with low birth weight (less than 5.5. lbs), as compared to the U.S. rate of 7.6%.

From June 2002 to June 2003, the Department of Labor recorded at 51% increase in parents suffering from long-term unemployment. From 2002 to 2004, 18% of Delaware’s children had unemployed parents, as compared to U.S. rate of 22%.

In 1997, Delaware reported only 79 primary care physicians to every 100,000 residents. During that same year, of the 83% full time primary care providers, only 60% accepted new patients with Medicaid.

About 1 out of every 10 children in the U.S. suffer from a severe mental illness. In Delaware, adolescents ages 13 to 16 account for 18.7% of children receiving mental health services from a state-sponsored mental health agency.

An average of 90% of children serviced through the Division of Substance and Mental Health agencies in Delaware qualify as having SED, “serious emotional disturbance”; compared to the national average of 68%.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reported that suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds and the sixth for 5-15 year olds.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a national average of only one-third of children with mental disorders receive treatment.

Sources: SAMHSA’S Nat’l Mental Health Information Center, National Alliance on Mental Health, US Surgeon General Mental Health Report 2004, U.S. Census Bureau 2004 Poverty, Economic and Population Estimates; Report of the Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental Health: A National Action Agenda; National Mental Health Association