Nicholas Gordon: Bourbon County Health Trends

Nicholas Gordon

Top 5 Health Trends in Bourbon County Kentucky

For this assignment I spoke with Donna Evans who works at the Bourbon County Health Department of Kentucky.  Ms. Evans is an RN, and has recently become the head of a program known as the HANDS (Health Access Nurturing Development Services) program, which is a very successful program in the state of Kentucky. While talking to Ms. Evans, she was able to tell me about the top five health trends in the area, according to her experience.

Smoke Free Workplaces

The first health trend we talked about was that of smoking and the workplace. This is a really big issue that she is trying to push so that the workplace can be smoke free, except for a specially designated area outside for smokers to use. She has been working with the city commissioners to try and implement this initiative throughout all of Bourbon County and so far there has been success in the courthouse becoming a smoke free environment.

Public Bike Paths and Lanes

The next trend she talked to me about was that of working on bike paths in both metropolitan and rural areas of the county. Currently, there are some areas in which access to these amenities are far and few, therefore making a need for improvement. One of the most popular cities in Kentucky, Louisville, has even made room for a bike lane by taking the two lane main street and high street and making them one ways streets to provide room for the bike lane on the sides. Since Louisville is such a popular city within the state of Kentucky, she is hoping this will set an example to other cities by encouraging them to do the same for their residents and tourists.

Upgrading Public Parks

Another way in which the community is trying to be physically active is by upgrading the public parks by putting in better walking paths and connecting parks in different areas of the communities to one another. In a location that I am familiar with due to serving in the area on my LDS mission, there has now been a path that connects what is known as the Legion Park Trail to the Garret Park across what is known as Stone Creek. She mentioned that due to this change in parks, she was able to notice that many more people were getting out and being active this past summer.

Diabetes

Out of all trends that were brought up, diabetes was the most alarming and noticeable trend. Many of those in Bourbon County that are affected, are unaware of the problem they have. To make matters worse, those who are aware cannot afford to go to the doctor to receive the treatment they need. They also seem to be in denial that they have it because they are afraid of what it could mean for their future. Just as we have seen throughout the U.S., diabetes is beginning to be a problem for those that are still in high school and even some children who are in elementary school in this specific area of Kentucky. Thankfully, there is a counselor available at the high school to help students count their carbohydrates throughout the day so that they will be able to dose themselves the right amount of insulin. In the past those with diabetes needed one shot of insulin a day, but now the trend is anywhere from 4-5 shots per day.

Teen Pregnancy

The last health trend that was mentioned by Ms. Evans was that of teen pregnancy. The rates in this specific county of Kentucky have skyrocketed over the last few years, which is very alarming to her because she used to be the head of a program that directly combatted this health trend. The program she headed focused on abstinence education, birth control medications/options and practicing safe sex, mainly focusing on high school students in the area. She has since left this position in the hands of others to work on the HANDS project as mentioned previously, and ever since then the rates have gone up. She feels that since there is not anyone who can write grants like she can, funding has stopped, which means moving the program efforts forward have not been as possible as before. She mentioned to me that there are even cases in which middle school and junior high students are becoming pregnant.