Health Trends in Douglas County, CO

Community Health Trends for Douglas County

Name: Melissa Bills

For this assignment, I spoke with Stacy Weinberg, MA who is the Director of Epidemiology, and Health Planning and Communication for Douglas County in Colorado.

            One of the first trends that she mentioned is the shift in demographics that is occurring in Douglas County. In years past, we have had a high percentage of white persons living in the county but, in the last decade, we have started to become more ethnically and racially diverse. Specifically, we have seen an influx of Hispanic and African American people in the community. This has changed the access to health care for people in these groups, making it more difficult for them to get insured, but at the same time increasing the amount of culture specific health help. Another part of the trend in demographic shift is the aging population. This population has been growing extensively over the last four years and it is predicted that by 2018, the county’s population of people over sixty will increase by 54%. Both of these examples illustrate the trend of major changes in the demographics of Douglas County.

            Another trend currently happening in Douglas County is the significant increase in chronic diseases. Cancer is now the leading cause of death in Douglas County, replacing heart disease which was the leading cause in 2006. Specifically, lung cancer has become the leading cause of death in both men and women in the last 6 years. This illustrates how cancer has become a health trend there. Even though cancer has become the new leading cause of death, the county is actually seeing a decrease in cancer death rates, showing a more positive aspect of the chronic disease trend.

            A third trend in Douglas County is experiencing is increasing obesity. Mirroring the U.S., this county is seeing a significant increase in obesity rates in residents. In order to address and attempt to reverse this growing trend, officials in the county have made more community nutrition services available and made better use of land use planning activities. Additionally, they are working to make improvement in school and community policies through the CPPW Grant program. Ultimately, Douglas County may be seeing an increase in obesity rates, but they are working to reverse the trend and make healthier living a new trend in the area.

           The fourth trend I discussed with Mrs. Weinberg was more outbreaks of infectious diseases in the area. She said that infectious diseases still remain as a major cause of death in the community and one alarming trend in this area is that they have started to see the reemergence of some diseases that were previously thought to be under control. She also mentioned they are monitoring farming produce and other products after the recent Salmonella outbreaks in cantaloupe. This is following a sharp increase in the number of reported cases of listeriosis beginning in August 2010. They would ordinarily only see 4 cases maximum in one year, but beginning in August 2010, they started to see an average of 4 cases every two weeks. This illustrates the increasing trend of infectious diseases occurring in Douglas County.

            The final trend that was brought to my attention was that of more emergency preparedness. The professional I talked to said that following the attacks on September 11, 2001, residents in the county began to see the importance of being prepared and the trend of emergency preparedness emerged. Specifically, they have seen an increase in emergency-response capabilities and increased preparedness and response capacity for resident in the county. They believe this can be attributed to the increase in natural disasters seen throughout the world, prompting residents to want to be more prepared in case of an emergency. In the end, all of these show that Douglas County in Colorado has both good and bad trends when it comes to public health.