Davis County has seen several Public Health trends and
issues arise recently. I spoke with Bob Ballew, the Public Information
Officer/Risk Communication Coordinator of Davis County, Utah. Ballew is in
charge of media relations and queries and sees many public health issues
firsthand as he coordinates with different health
professionals on local, state, and federal levels. He also acts as an informant
to the media about important health issues. I found his take on public health
very interesting because he works with the media/promotion aspect of public health
and views trends and cases differently than an epidemiologist would.
The trends and issues are more focused on promotion and
prevention of healthy lifestyles and
behaviors in Davis County.
When I asked Ballew about trends or issues in public health,
the first thing that came to his mind was
the senior citizens of Davis County. The Davis County
Health Department has under its jurisdiction two
offices that normally are not considered in the public health
arena. The Aging (senior) Services and
Weatherization Assistance are for age qualified and
income qualified residents.
Additionally, there is a new campaign for senior citizens
under the Health Promotion Bureau
called “Stepping On” which is aimed at helping senior
citizens prevent injuries from falling down.
There is a 6-8 week course offered in one of the 3 Senior
Activity Centers in Davis County where they are taught on preventative measures
and what to do in the case of falling down. The goal of this
program is to prevent the aging population from causing
serious injuries that require more healthcare
usage.
A large issue throughout most of the world is tobacco
usage. Davis County Health Department will
support the Great American Smokeout on November 15,
encouraging all smokers to quit for a day.
They also offer free services such as a health department
speaker to talk to employees about helpful
strategies on quitting. In addition, Davis County Health
Department recently has recognized 92
retailers for compliance with tobacco laws in not selling
to underage smokers. The trend for Davis
County is showing that smoking is being prevented through
such retail promotion techniques. By lowering supply through the enforcement of
tobacco laws and lowering demand through media measures, the Health Promotion department
is doing an excellent job.
The Davis County Health Department stays at the front of
technology with new ways of preventing the influenza virus. The issue in Davis County has not been an
outbreak of the flu, but rather getting the word out about the flue and having
a sufficient supply of flu vaccines. Between
the new vaccines like the nasal spray and the traditional shot, the trend in
Davis County continues to move with technology to keep the residents safe and
healthy. With each release of the
vaccine more and more people want to vaccinate themselves. Bob explained to me the media efforts that
the Health Promotion Department has been working on since August until now to
get the word out through social media and print ads for the vaccine to be ready
for the public.
Sodium consumption has increased nationally with the
increased intake of processed foods.
Davis County has received a federal grant to use Health Promotion
techniques to reduce the sodium intake. Through
school lunches, the Davis County Jail, senior activity centers, and local
vendors the Health Promotion team is instructing about the dangers of high
sodium consumption and reducing the quantity of sodium in each meal. Because of this federal grant and efforts from
the Health Department high blood pressure rates will drop in the future.
A final media query in Davis County deals with
pertussis. For the past year in the
United States there has been a small outbreak of this infectious and
preventable disease. There have been
several cases of this in Utah and because of it preventative measures have been
taken to promote education against the diseases and making vaccinations available
for the public. In the past year this
has helped contain and lower the amount of cases in Davis County.
As I talked with Ballew I was able to identify that Davis
County has special health cases and concerns and also follows national public
health trends. From having jurisdiction
of different services for senior citizens to following national standards on
influenza vaccinations, Davis County continues to promote a healthy population
not only by staying out of the hospital, but also by being physically,
emotionally, and mentally healthy.
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