Keepin' It Alive In The 775 -- Alana Woodbury

I am from Carson City, NV. I called Carson City Health and Human Services (specifically Susan R. Pintar, Health Officer, who used to be my primary physician as a child) to see what they could tell me about public health trends in my hometown. It turns out they recently released a Health Action Plan for my town, and it targets these different priority areas in public health:

1. Oral Health-- Nevada ranks 48^th in the nation for adults who have gone to the dentist in the last year. That is pretty awful. It is specifically a problem in Carson City, and they think it is because Medicaid is not accepted at many dentist offices there. Less people have access to dental care these days because of insurance issues. The Health Department is planning on spreading more awareness to the public and working with doctors to determine what coverage is available.
2. Mental Health-- Again, Nevada does not rank well nationally with its mental health care system. In Carson City, the suicide rate is on the rise. The administrator I spoke said that Carson City has experienced economic problems, and this has led to several budget cuts that have limited resources in the mental health area. There simply are not enough behavioral health facilities or practitioners. They plan to spread awareness about the problem and hopefully receive a grant to create new resources.
3. Diabetes (Type II)-- While diabetes is an issue sweeping across the nation, the effects are also being felt locally in Carson City. Because the number of cases increases dramatically every year, it is starting to take a major financial toll. The problem in Carson is that may underprivileged and homeless citizens do not have control over their diabetes due to lack of knowledge and medication. The Health Department predicts that if more diabetes education was available, the health of the entire community would improve. Many lifestyle changes can help curb diabetes, so they are planning to make more programs available for the population.
4. Smoking/Tobacco-- The percentage of tobacco use in Carson City is significantly higher than the state's average. This is probably because the town suffers from the effects of second-hand and even third-hand smoke in public areas. It has been determined that no amount of smoke is safe, but people can still exposed at many locations in the town. The Health Department believes that now is the time to crack down on smoking. They will create more programs to help people quit permanently.
5. Teenage Pregnancy-- The state of Nevada has an extremely high rate of teenage pregnancies (age 15-19). Carson City has had an issue with this for several years, but it has certainly reached its peak recently. The Health Department recognizes the long term psychological and economic disadvantages of being a teenage mother. Their research as well as national research says that effective sex education programs can indeed delay sex among youth. Therefore, they intend to advertise existing programs more and make sure as many youth as possible are exposed to them.