Health Trends in King County

Katelyn Dempsey

HLTH 100

November 13^th, 2012

Public Health Community Trends

For this assignment on public health trends in my home community, I was able to contact Dr. David Fleming, M.D. He serves as Public Health Director and Health Officer of King County, the area where I have lived most of my life. In his presentation, he was able to identify for me the top five issues which are adversely affecting the health of King County’s inhabitants:

            One contributing factor is the density of alcohol and tobacco retail available in the area. There are certain zones where as little as 3% of town populations are smokers, while other areas exhibit high densities of tobacco users. Meanwhile, alcohol use is widely used throughout the entire county. As a result, there is an emerging prevalence of motor vehicle injury and death as well as liver, lung, and heart disease. While the measures being taken by local public health officials are thankfully decreasing the use of tobacco by a significant percentage each year, its use continues to be persistent in many individuals, particularly African Americans.

            Another is the lack of sidewalks, bike lanes, and parks located in the county. People are forced to drive or use other forms of transportation in order to safely travel to different places. Public transportation is not an easy option, either, as the system is not very widespread and can be difficult to navigate. Because of this, we find that traffic congestion has become an issue and the air quality continues to worsen as car pollution persists. Physical inactivity is a huge risk factor for many diseases which haunt our county. Unfortunately, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease levels continue to be high as the opportunities for exercise lessen.

            The lack of healthcare services places an obvious danger upon the citizens of king county. Many people are uninsured, which limits the availability of preventative screenings, prenatal care, and dental care—we are seeing the adverse effects of that in our community, particularly when it comes to infant mortality. With little access to healthcare, citizens are placed under the wrath of a host of preventable health problems. To fix this problem, we must ensure that there is equity in all health policies, regardless of the sex, race, or other traits of the person in need. Also, we must provide more training for community health workers to not only create more jobs but also to provide more services to the public.

            King County is also host to several food deserts, which are areas where there is little to no access to grocery stores offering fresh and affordable foods. These foods are necessary for a healthy diet, and thus we see a decline in the nutrition taken in by county citizens living in those areas. As there is less land being used for food production, there is an increased need to long distance transport goods to our stores, limiting the amount of fresh foods we are receiving. That, combined with an economy which sustains fewer economically viable local businesses and farmer’s markets, is an issue which is surely more widespread than just our area. However, as this issue has caused higher levels of obesity, heart disease, and even cancer in our county, it does indeed need to be addressed.

            Finally, substandard housing in our housing is placing a harmful stress on the health of our community. The value of many of our homes is low, and areas which contain entire populations of low-income citizens limits opportunities for personal growth. Furthermore, there seems to be a larger carbon footprint emerging from the issue. Because of low-value, high-density housing areas, there seems to be an increase in asthma and even lead poisoning among populations. It is clear that education and income levels are important factors in one’s living conditions, and substandard housing is sometimes the only option available to people with low education or income. However, it has been seen that as people gain success and are able to move into higher-income neighborhoods, their obesity and diabetes rates have improved in similar ways as diet and exercise programs as well as medications used to treat diabetes.