After losing his farm to Hurricane Michael, a south Georgia farmer partnered to create a mental health solution in his community with on-demand therapists.
BAINBRIDGE, Ga. — After losing his farm to Hurricane Michael, a south Georgia farmer has created a solution to the mental health crisis in his rural community.
If you ask him what he does now, Eric Cohen will say, “I’m in the real estate and telehealth business.”
Until Hurricane Michael in October 2018, Cohen was a full-time farmer and owner of a pecan orchard in Bainbridge, Georgia.
Hurricane Michael hit the Florida coast as a Category 5 and maintained its momentum as a Category 3 storm, carving a devastating path through Georgia.
It caused more than $2 billion in agricultural damage.
“After Hurricane Michael, I really had no choice. I had to pivot because we lost about 800 acres of our farm,” Cohen said.
Cohen lost generational money when the storm devastated his pecan trees, a product that takes 10 years to grow and bear fruit. Cohen says the devastation sent him to a dark place and he could see the emotional darkness that permeated his community.
“I could see the crisis of mental illness that affects everyone. It wasn’t just the farmers. It was all of them,” she said.
At a recent panel during the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Forum at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Commissioner Kevin Tanner said a disproportionate number of calls to the new 988 suicide crisis line They come from rural areas of Georgia.
“(There are) two reasons we have identified for this. One is the lack of resources for rural Georgia, but the second is simply the stigma,” Commissioner Tanner said.
To find a solution within his community, Cohen partnered with Brad Mullen, founder of telehealth company BasiCare Plus.
It is not insurance but a membership-based health care plan. A $60 membership covers a family of nine.
In addition to providing physical care and prescriptions, the company offers on-demand therapists that people can access from their computers or phones.
“In rural Georgia, we simply don’t have access to doctors like we do in big cities. Even if you can get a therapist, you’re out for two or three months,” she said.
The plan is available nationwide. Mullen says it works well for truck drivers, personal care homes and college students, but most of its users live in rural areas of the United States.
Cohen is now the company’s CEO.
“This has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done because it really helps people,” Cohen said. “This is the easiest way to get telehealth medicine in rural America.”
For more information about BasiCare Plus, click here.
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