Health Trends of Cache County, UT

Health Trends of Cache County, UT- M. Tysen Nickle



In the Cache County area, Tobacco use is a strong concern. In many of the rural areas of the county, a higher percentage of adults use tobacco making it more accessible to the minors. This is probably the biggest push of the Bear River Health department. Their main goal is to reach out to the youth and educate them before they have a chance to use the substance. This is often done within the elementary schools.

Substance abuse is also a major concern of the Health Department. In the entire county, but especially in Logan and Hyrum, many different kinds of substances are abused-from alcohol to illegal drugs to prescription drugs. This is a harder program to push because the target demographics aren’t in one particular place like with the tobacco program. This program has a presence in schools, but is mostly found in large workplaces, stores and advertisements like billboards. The department helps run support groups to overcome these. They also run a few educational lectures for the public on the effects of substance abuse.

Injury Prevention is a broad area of focus for the Health Department. This ranges from keeping city parks functioning correctly, to helping bicyclists use helmets to keeping workplaces safe. One of the more successful endeavors over the last few years has happened in the rural communities. It is very common for most of the minors under 16 to use 4-wheelers as a means of transportation around the small town. This is slightly dangerous because they’re using a motorized vehicle on public roads without any education on driving. Over the last 5-6 years some of the more rural cities, like Clarkston, have ran an education course similar to a short Driver’s Education course to help educate the youth about the dangers of driving and how to drive safely.

Chronic disease is a large concern in Cache County, just like anywhere else. There are many different areas of focus for the Health Department in preventing Chronic disease.  These areas mainly focus on both educating the public and providing programs to help change behavior. Over the last ten years Cache county has spent a lot of time and money in developing a new trails system that includes several biking and walking trails. The sole purpose of this is to make safe, aerobic exercise accessible to the public. There are also several nutrition classes available to the public that work alongside many websites to help the public learn how to establish and maintain a healthy diet.     

The obesity prevention program run by Bear River Health Department functions very closely with the Chronic disease prevention programs. They educate the community about the benefits of health diets and regular exercise. They also educate them on the risks of not have a healthy diet and regular exercise.  Just like with the Chronic disease, they help make exercise accessible to the public with the new trails and also with new programs to keep the public active. Also, just like the other programs-the school system is used to create a basis of understand with the upcoming generation on the effects and prevention of obesity.

Monica Thunell-Health Promotion Specialist for the Bear River Health Department in Logan, UT