Lauren Turville

Public Health Community Trends

Contact: Kristen Westenskow

        Kristen Westenskow graduated from BYU with a masters in Public Health.  While attending BYU she traveled the world working with developing countries to promote health, and try to prevent further problems.  She worked to set up programs in villages educating mothers in getting healthy food nutrition and health care for themselves and their babies. She later worked at BYU and the U of U teaching public health classes. I loved talking to her and learned a lot about my options for jobs, and the future I want to pursue in public health. The top five public health trends in Salt Lake City, UT include obesity, depression and other mental illness, air pollution, social exercise and drug abuse.

      Obesity is a huge problem everyone in the country and is one that Americans have little concern for. In the U.S. about two-thirds of adults are overweight, and according to the Salt Lake Valley Health Department, 57% of people in Utah are no exception to that and are overweight or obese.  Compared to  other cities in Utah, Salt Lake has a lower percentage of overweight or obese, but with more than half of the state suffering from this problem, it is clearly a negative health trend.

    I always thought that mental illness was a rare occurrence and had no idea the reality of how many people suffer from it.  Depression is a huge one for me because there are so many people in my family that suffer from it.  Often the cause is just a chemical imbalance that causes much suffering especially in the youth.  Luckily, treatment is very accessible, and I feel that people are generally very accepting of these problems, but it does not make the suffering any easier.  I think the most important thing that can be done, is to make people more aware of how common mental illness, consequently making those suffering feel more accepted.

    I feel that there is little that is actually being to done to help the air pollution not only in SLC, but all over the country.  People drive everywhere, and as far as I know, do not make a huge effort to carpool. There are often air quality warnings, and students in elementary schools are kept inside for the day to help prevent sickness from the air.  On the positive side, some advances are being made such as public transportation.  The bus and trax are already operating and travel all through Salt Lake and other cities, and the frontrunner, which travels from Salt Lake City to Provo will start operating in December, something I think BYU students should and will take huge advantage of. 

    Something I refer to as social exercise is becoming a huge trend in Salt Lake City.  So many people in my area go to things like Zumba and Pilates together.  Many new Pilates studios have opened in my area, and many adult women in my area contacted each other to go together to take classes.  My mom for instance loves Zumba because it is fun and high energy, and she does it with her friends, making it a social event. She has lost ten pounds doing Zumba and has loved every minute of it. 

     Lastly, drug abuse is a huge problem.  Although Utah is known for having a Mormon population, this does not discredit the fact that many teenagers have problems with drugs.  Many of my high school peers have gotten into dangerous drugs, and have had to go through rehabilitation programs.  Luckily, there are people fighting for them.  The Utah Department of Human Services has a huge section on substance abuse and mental health, and are advocates of helping those in need.  They have a suicide prevention program, often hold conferences on substance abuse, and vastly educate the community on these problems.