Public Health Trends in Iredell County, NC

Dwight Bellingham

I spoke with Norma Rife, the Director of Public Health Development in Iredell County, NC.  She gave me three long-term issues that the Public Health Department of Iredell County is focusing on and then two current issues that they are focusing on as well.

1.  Active Living – They work closely with “Healthy Carolinians”, a group that goes to the community with surveys to assess concerns and combine it with state data.  The combination of this primary (community) data and secondary (state) data is used to determine what areas need to be focused on.  A couple of the findings were that only about 40% of the people who participated in the community survey exercise regularly.  And over 50% said they engaged in sedentary activities for 4 or more hours a day.  They then take this data and get into health action planning, combining the ideas of different groups and organizations. For the physical activity aspect of active living they get together recreational departments, hospitals, and whoever else has been doing well at spurring physical activity.  They then figure out the best strategy whether its focusing efforts on families, individuals, worksites, or communities and they create policies when needed.

2.  Healthy Eating – The community surveys showed that only 10% reported eating at least 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Also, about 50% self reported being overweight.  This is concerning and is a focus because high consumption of fruits and vegetables can substantially reduce the risk of many chronic diseases as well as reduce obesity rates.  So in order to make progress in this area, they are working with the farmers to encourage individuals to go to the farmer’s market to get fresh fruits and vegetables.  They work with the hospitals in hopes that they will list info on farmer’s markets to direct people to them. 

3.  Tobacco-free living – North Carolina has been known as one of the tobacco capitals of the world.  It is a huge health issue and the Public Health Department sees it as one of their main focus areas.  They promote tobacco-free living by working with influential community members and organizations to intervene.  One example is at Mitchell Community College (where I actually attended for a semester) where they are working towards a tobacco free campus.  In order to make this happen, Norma said that they have to get buy-in from key contacts far in advance so that they can have the support needed to make changes.  They work with teachers and students to get people on board.  Most people are very supportive of these changes and new policies so it hasn’t been difficult even though North Carolina is known as a tobacco capital. 

4.  Recent Rabies Cases - Norma said that one main aspect of their work is Public Health’s continual assessment of the community.  Recently, 15 cases of possible animal rabies were reported in Iredell County.  The process of finding this out is that animal control gets a call from a pet owner who said their pet was around a wild animal and exhibits characteristics of rabies.  The animal is quarantined but they don’t usually try to seek out the source wild animal.  Now they are encouraging community members to immunize animals.  They quickly got the word out about these rabies cases through an education awareness campaign through hospitals and veterinarians and they have people go to daycares and schools to post flyers about it.  They also disseminate information through the Chambers of Commerce who then get the word out to businesses.

5.  Flu shots – The other short-term priority that Norma said they are focusing on right now is flu shots.  Seasonal influenza can be very dangerous, especially in certain age groups.  So they have had a campaign going to educate people about the purpose and value of receive a flu shot.  She talked a lot about how their Public Health program focuses mainly on prevention and that these flu shots are an important preventative measure.  They work with hospitals and health care providers to promote and administer these shots.

It was a great experience to talk to Norma and to see the passion she has for Public Health.  There is so much work to be done and so many areas that can be focused on, so it was cool to see how they narrow down their focus areas and then bring people and organizations together to make plans and take action.