Andi Hoffman

King County

Community Health Trends 

I was able to contact a family friend, Trina Barrow, who works as a health director for a local business. As a part of her job she attends conferences and subscribes to different journals that keep her up to date on what is going on in the community. She also stays up to date on the new discoveries being made in the health field. I enjoyed talking with her and seeing possibilities of staying involved and current. She described to me the different trends she’s seen at work as well as what she has read about in King County. the following are some of the trends we discussed. 

1. Asthma in young children. Two of my siblings have asthma and before talking with Trina I didn’t realize the debilitating affects it has if not taken care of correctly. Asthma is one of the main reasons for children missing school. It creates coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath - all of which are reasons for children to be less active. 
2. The consumption of sugary drinks has created many issues. It has been linked to risks for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and hypertension. When I was in high school they were trying to pass a law disallowing schools from selling soda in the vending machines. People mindlessly drink soda and juices without realizing the amount of sugar they are putting into their bodies. 
3. In this day and age childhood obesity has become more prevalent than ever before (1 in 5 children are overweight). The lack of activity and poor diets are the main contributors to this epidemic. In King County (the Seattle area) 9 months out of the year are grey and rainy which could also be a factor in the lack of activity. 
4. In the past ten years the amount of people with diabetes (in King County) has doubled. Trina and I discussed the possible reasons for this. Poor diet and exercise are major reasons for an increase in Type 2 diabetes. The lack of appropriate attention is another cause. If people were more proactive about taking care of their diabetes the affects would not be as severe. 
5. The Seattle area has one of the lowest smoking rates of any major city in the US, but it is a problem within certain populations. It is more common in the black/african american as well as american indian and low income families. Tobacco is still one of the leading causes of (preventable) death. 

We also discussed SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), MS (Multiple Sclerosis), and Cancer. Seattle is home to some the largest MS and Cancer research facilities.