An Overview of King County WA

Garrett Neilson

November 12, 2012

Public Health Trends of King County, WA

1.       Better communication of health related information. Dr. Ian Fleming, the director of Public Health for King County, has as one of his stated objectives to empower his epidemiologists to better reach out to the community. This became a major concern when their research indicated that people simply did not know where to go to get adequate information on health issues, prevention being the biggest offender. One thing that does worry me, though, was his stated belief that epidemiologists should be “politically motivated” and “advocates” rather than just fact driven researchers.

2.       Tobacco related deaths. This is the single greatest cause of mortality in King County, accounting for 18% of all deaths. As such, the public health department is seeking new message campaigns and legislation to restrict sales and usage. Some of their specific goals are “smoke free pharmacies” and restricting smoking on campuses, in public housing, and in parks. Kind of odd that the government has such a virulent hatred of smoking but is now allowing people to smoke marijuana. Go figure.

3.       Food and water protection. Though Washington is blessed with abundant supplies of fresh water, its cleanliness is still a matter of great concern as the overall water quality affects not just the water we drink, but the health of plants and animals that also depend on it for sustenance. On a related note, there are many efforts to preserve the beauty of Puget Sound in the hopes that it will not turn out to be Chesapeake Bay II: Electric Boogaloo. Especially since a lot of the state’s seafood comes from in and around the sound, it would be catastrophic to the health of residents here and in other states.

4.       Obesity. Yet another target of strange legislature within King County. The public health department is using passive methods of promoting exercise by constructing more pedestrian and bicycle “friendly” streets that all of no one will use in the rainy state of Washington. More unsettling, however, is their idea to restrict the ability of fast food chains to build near schools. Regardless of my feelings, lack of exercise and poor diet are major contributors to health related problems in our sedentary county.

5.       Affordable healthcare. Another large push that Dr. Fleming wants is for affordable healthcare to be accessed by all people, seeing it as a form of social justice. But there is more to it than that, as King County regularly sees a large influx of visitors, about 30 million per year, being able to adequately care for visitors in distress is good for the overall health of the county by securing more money. Also, there is a great disparity in wealth seen amongst residents of King County as it encompasses not just the large cities of Seattle and Bellevue but also small farming communities like Factoria. The public health department has a keen interest in providing for the well-being of all citizens.

Helper: Susan Kinne, Epidemiologist