A holy-cow statistic from the Statehouse this morning: Idaho has one psychiatrist for every 20,000 residents.
That number came from Jeralyn Jones, a Boise psychiatrist and University of Washington associate professor. Jones testified before the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee Wednesday, discussing the State Board of Education’s psychiatry residency program. (More about the program from Betsy Russell of the Spokane Spokesman-Review.)
Here’s one way to look at that one-in-20,000 figure.
Idaho, with a population of roughly 1.6 million, has 105 legislators. Or one lawmaker for every 15,000 or so residents.