Health Trends in Bakersfield, California
(Kern County)
I had the chance to speak with
Nancy Nasrawin whose official title was a ‘Health Education Assistant’ for the
Kern County Health Department. She was
very informative and was able to help in assisting me identify the top 5 major trends
in my community back home. She indicated
after our phone call that these were only a few of the issues/trends they are
dealing with and that there are many many more, but also stated that the ones
mentioned here are some of the biggest ones on their radar for Kern County.
#1: West Nile Virus
This year Kern County had the
first two cases of human death from the West Nile Virus. West Nile has increased in recent years and
has become more of a problem, especially with foreclosed homes and other issues
where there is standing water for the mosquitos to breed. The mosquito population was especially bad
this last year, and as a result increased the level and degree of their
mosquito abatement program throughout the county especially in higher
population areas. Many were hospitalized
as a result of the problem, and two resulted in human death. They have tried to educate the public about
not leaving areas of standing water so that this does not become a bigger
problem.
#2: Overweight &/or Obese Adults
They have calculated that 62.1%
of all adults in Kern County are either considered overweight or obese
according to their BMI. Nancy said that
they were concerned because this not only seems to be a national trend and
problem, but also one they are trying to address there in Kern County. They have begun running ads in partnership
with federal government funding to further educate the population about the
effects of obesity/being overweight.
They are concerned because they know obesity is preventable and that it
often leads to other health problems and concerns.
#3: People living below the Poverty Level
The population of those
considered living in or below the poverty level has increased, but they also
believe this may be related to a 1.4% population increase they experienced this
last year. The population of those
living in or below the poverty level is estimated to be about 20.6% of the
populations in Kern County. There are
more females and children considered part of this trend than men overall. They are most concerned because individuals
under the age of 6 years old account for the largest population in this group living
below poverty. Nancy stated that they
want to help every population they can, but when they have increasing levels of
population as well as poverty levels it becomes harder to do so because there
becomes a drain on the resources they already have in place without increased
funding or additional resources to assist, educate, and prevent some of these
problems.
#4: Air Quality & Respiratory Diseases
The air quality is one of the
number one issues people in Bakersfield and Kern County feel strongly about as
does the County Health Department.
Because Kern County is lower in elevation and in a kind of bowl/valley
there is a lot of air which blows in from all directions including the Los
Angeles area. Sometimes the air sits or
remains in the area because it is not able to be blown or pushed away or up
over the mountains. They have to deal
with San Joaquin Valley Fever, and other issues which tend to be a bigger
problem in this area than any other in the state of California. Nancy mentioned that they have seen increased
incidence being reported and the number of doctor’s visits has increased for a
list of respiratory diseases, including: Asthma, COPD, including increased ER
(emergency room) rates and even hospitalization for these and other respiratory
diseases.
#5: Smoking & Second-hand Smoke
When Nancy spoke about this one she was very
optimistic and happy to see this trend going in the right direction (down), but
she also insisted that this is still a big enough problem that they cannot let
up the fight about tobacco, smoking, and second-hand smoke. Every other year they collect data on smoking
rates, and since 2003 (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011) there has been a decrease
in rates. Conversely there have also been
a number of teens who have increasingly reported NOT smoking since 2003. This is promising news, although Nancy
mentioned that they had a goal along with the “Healthy People 2020” national
goal of reducing the proportion of adults aged 18 and older to 12.0%. Currently in Kern County 17.2% of the
population aged 18 or older reportedly smokes, but they believe they can
achieve this goal in coming years!
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