Brooke Cope

PUBLIC HEALTH COMMUNITY TRENDS

 OF DAVIS COUNTY

                 For this assignment I chose to talk to someone in the public health department in Davis County of the state of Utah. I had the opportunity to speak with Isa Perry, a member at the department that helps with recognizing and finding the health trends as well as communicating them with those that wish to know. Our conversation ended up leading to trends from several areas of public health; two top concerns in infectious diseases, one from mental health, one from chronic diseases, and one from environmental health.

                The first topic we discussed was the infectious diseases that affect the people of Davis County. There were two diseases that she mentioned: Chlamydia and Hepatitis C. Chlamydia is a disease caused by sexual intercourse. It is the most commonly reported STD in the United States. Perry believes this is a problem in her area, because of the high level of unprotected sex. Hepatitis C is a blood borne infection and is also the most common on reported in the United States. It is transmitted through injection drugs and unsterilized medical equipment. Perry said that the biggest cause of infection in their area is because of inappropriate drug use.

                We then moved on to talk about the mental health issues taking a toll on the Davis County community. Perry said that the main issue of concern is the rate of suicides in the area. Not only does suicide hurt the victim, but the family, friends and community surrounding the individual. She did not mention whether the main population affected was the youth or the adult population, but most likely both populations are affected greatly. Perry concluded that the cause for these high rates is because of the lack of mental health services. She mentioned that there are not enough institutions to help those in need, and that having more in the future could prevent rates to increase.

                Next, she proceeded to tell me about the top issue in the category of chronic diseases. Not to very much surprise, the chronic disease affecting Davis County the most is that of obesity. I say this because not only is it affecting Davis County, but all of Utah, as well as much of the United States. We went on to discuss the causes of this. Though she was not positive, she speculated that lack of exercise, and poor eating habits, as well as the wealth in the area could be main factors of this.

                We concluded our conversation with the perspective of environmental health emphasis. Perry informed me that air quality is the top issue of concern for the environmentalists of Davis County. She said that this issue has been a consistent problem for many, many years in that area of Utah. She attributes most of the concern to the existence of the refinery on the south end of the county. The refinery is constantly in action and sets out a very high amount of pollution.