Colter Hulet; Pocatello Idaho

Public Health Trends

I spoke with Tracy Mcculloch, Community Health Director for the Southeast Idaho district of public health. Since my hometown is Pocatello, Idaho, she is the official representative covering my district. When I asked her what the top five trends were regarding public health in the area, she was quick to point out that their office receives much of it's funding from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This money is mostly used for services such as educational seminars focusing on raising awareness of the need for better public health, however, they also use this money to take action with programs and services offered directly to the people who need it. Since most of this comes from the CDC, they mostly focus on the issues which are affecting the nation as a whole, but within this range there were definitely five topics which stood out.

The first topic which we talked about was diabetes. In Pocatello, Idaho, diabetes rates are very high, so they have many programs providing diabetes medication. They also provide health checks partnered with Idaho State University nursing students. The students go out to rural communities and provide free diabetes testing and education. They especially focus on educating people about healthy practices which can prevent diabetes.

Another massive stumbling block in the public health of Southeast Idaho is oral health. The dental hygiene there is dismal, and the office of public health speculates that it is due to the enormous lack of health insurance found there. People need funds to go to dentist, and without health insurance those funds are hard to come by. To combat this problem the Office of Public Health provides dental fluoride varnish clinics along with oral health education. They also partnered with the Idaho State University dental hygiene program to provide the annual “gift of a smile” day, giving kids free dental exams and care on a certain day every year.

Sadly, even the people of Southeast Idaho have high cancer rates. This is one of the largest public health concerns nationwide, and not even the hamlets of rural Idaho can escape its clutches. In fact, the people of the area are somewhat more at risk because they are so distant. They could contract a form of cancer and remain unaware for long periods of time since few make regular trips to the doctor for cancer screenings. For the Office of Public Health to combat this, they have a comprehensive cancer control program encouraging people to be screened for cancers frequently. By encouraging people to get screened, they are increasing cancer detection rates in an effort to stop cancer in its early stages and save lives.

Tobacco usage is yet another vice which plagues Southeast Idaho. Many are addicted to this vile drug, and it is difficult to kick the habit. The Office of Public Health focuses on prevention and helping people quit when dealing with the widespread tobacco problem. To this end, they provide tobacco cessation classes, and post literally thousands of ads for tobacco prevention with youth. These practices are intended to solve the current problem while stemming the flow of a new generation of tobacco addicts by encouraging them not to start smoking or chewing in the first place.

Another problem which requires direct intervention is obesity. This is the final problem which we discussed, and it is perhaps the hardest to combat. The solutions used by the Office of Public Health include community health assessments, checking community access to walking paths and bike routes, etc. They also check to see that healthy food options are present in schools and work sites. They check if employers encourage healthy behaviors such as walking breaks for employees. Then the Office of Public Health gives this information to school boards, city council members, and the employers who need to make changes for a healthier community, and follows up to be sure that changes are being exacted to decrease obesity.

So it's easy to see that Southeast Idaho has public health issues that need addressed, but I'm happy to report that the Office of Public Health is doing a fantastic job of following through. They provide a lot of informative seminars and visits to rural communities, they work with the local university to improve the quality of life for the average person, as well as the quality of the education of their future healthcare professionals, they even provide direct intervention and direct action to address the top five public health concerns of the area. Although it may be tough to see at times, public health really does make Southeast Idaho a better place.