Health Improvement Plan survey to shed light on Washtenaw County obesity, smoking rates and more
Are we heavier than we were five years ago in Washtenaw County?
And how many of us are smoking these days?
The Washtenaw County Public Health Department plans to answer questions like these in September when the latest Health Improvement Plan survey results are released, public health officials said today.
How healthy is Washtenaw County? That's what the county health department wants to find out. Here, Dr. Raymond Rion examines patient Steve Sherwood of Ypsilanti at Packard Health in Ann Arbor in this file photo.
“Every five years we get a snapshot for adults and kids as to what are the big health issues,” Bauman said.
The last data set released in 2005 showed half of county residents are overweight or obese. Bauman said she expects that trend to continue upward.
“Every survey we do, we get fatter and fatter,” she said, adding that Washtenaw County actually fares better than the rest of the state when it comes to being overweight or obese.
Not every marker of poor public health is on its way up. Smoking rates have gone down since the first HIP survey in 1995, she said, and it’s expected that the trend will continue, following a statewide ban on smoking in workplaces.
Researchers with the Michigan State University Institute for Public Policy and Social Research collected data from Washtenaw County residents between March and October 2010 for the 4th HIP survey. About 2,200 residents participated and answered questions on topics such as smoking, obesity, diabetes, asthma and other health issues. MSU and the public health department are working together to crunch the numbers and put the results of the survey in a usable format, Bauman said.
The HIP survey is used to guide public health decisions, Bauman said. Non-profit organizations use the data to improve public health, too, applying for grants based on health disparities that come to light because of the data.
The most recent survey costs $100,000 to administer, said Sharon P. Sheldon, the program administrator for the health promotion disease prevention division at public health.
Public Health kicked in $30,000 while partner organizations including the University of Michigan, St. Joseph Mercy Health System, Chelsea Community Hospital, Thompson Reuters and the Chelsea Area Wellness Foundation picked up the rest of the tab.
Juliana Keeping covers general assignment and health and the environment for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter
Comments
BhavanaJagat
Thu, Jul 14, 2011 : 1:43 a.m.
'XMO' is right. I am one of those people who would not trust phone surveys. How could you expect me to share my personal health experience with an unknown person on the phone? The survey should be mailed and must include a written statement that the sponsor would not violate the rule of confidentiality and disclose the information for other marketing purposes. Thanks for including the file photo. The doctor and patient do not appear to be involved with each other. Could the doctor, or the Public Health Department share their view about health and what it means?
JS
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 : 7:11 p.m.
It's really simple folks, make better decisions regarding what to eat and what to do. Food is like fuel. One can either power their body with jet fuel (a healthy diet and exercise), or watered down gasoline (Mcdonalds and sitting on their butts). I have very little sympathy for obesity. Every time someone opens their mouth and consumes nasty, fat laden food, coupled with sitting in front of the television, a decision to not care about health has been made. The fault for this obesity epidemic rests solely on the obese people that continually choose an unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle. Say someone has an addiction problem and it's harder for them to not do drugs, does that make their choices acceptable? NO! It means they have to work harder than the general population to control their choices. The same goes for obesity. Just because someone is overweight does NOT make it acceptable, it just means they have to work harder than those who are not overweight in order to correct it. I may get flack about this comment, heck it may be censored for fear of offending or not being PC enough..... But it's true.
JS
Sun, Jul 17, 2011 : 7:22 p.m.
lastly, "Food is a substance that the body uses for a variety of purposes. Food provides heat and energy. Food provides the basic building blocks that the body uses to make more of its own substance." That kinda sounds like fuel.
JS
Sun, Jul 17, 2011 : 4:49 p.m.
@ Ricebrnr: Haaaaaa! Touché. I suppose I deserve that. @ BhavanaJagat: To say that I lack compassion and sympathy is overstepping your boundaries just a bit. I have compassion, and I have sympathy, lots of it. And I will offer it to any obese person who is taking responsibility for their current situation and taking steps to rectify it. To be overly compassionate and sympathetic to one who is taking no steps to correct their weight issues (in my opinion) is to enable the situation to continue. At what point does political correctness and the fear of offending get in the way of fostering a healthier future for America and it's people? I'm just saying that sometimes tough love is necessary. I don't go to the gym because I enjoy it (well I kind of do, but that's not the point), I go because I have a responsibility to myself and those around me. If someone has a weight problem and is working hard to correct it, they have my compassion and sympathy and support ten-fold, but if they are sitting on the couch, Cheeto's in hand, they will get none. "Perform your obligatory duty, because action is indeed better than inaction." "The senses have been conditioned by attraction to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant: a man should not be ruled by them; they are obstacles in his path." Wouldn't normally use quotes, but I have a feeling you know what book these came from :)
Ricebrnr
Sat, Jul 16, 2011 : 2 a.m.
Wait wait I friggin HATE spoons for causing this epidemic. After all they were only designed to move large quantities of food! Oh don't get me started on knives! Thy were only designed to cut!
BhavanaJagat
Thu, Jul 14, 2011 : 3:50 p.m.
Thanks for sharing your view. Food is not like fuel. Food is a substance that the body uses for a variety of purposes. Food provides heat and energy. Food provides the basic building blocks that the body uses to make more of its own substance. Body transforms food to create more protoplasm, and more complex tissues, and uses it for maintenance. Apart from deriving energy, and building materials, man uses food to derive satisfaction, and happiness to enjoy his status as a living organism. Man is a creature of his emotions. Man is not like a car or a machine which can function by providing the necessary fuel. Man cannot exist and cannot maintain his living functions unless he derives a small amount of psychological satisfaction from the experience of his condition or state called existence. People are eating more food and are able to consume more calories as their minds are not experiencing what is called satiety which is a normal physiological function that inhibits feeding activity as soon as the sensation of hunger is satisfied. Your lack of sympathy is the real problem. our society is full of people like you who have no sympathy or compassion. People are living like machines or robots without feelings, love, and compassion. It is totally against the very nature of man. If humanity is taken out of man, I would suggest that it is not worth living.
Mr Blue
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 : 4:53 p.m.
Poor health and its causes costs our economy far more in lost productivity and health care costs than the amount of money spent to study and treat the diseases caused by smoking and poor diet. Continuing to deny this will only make the problems of people's health and the related costs larger. Take care of the problem now and save in the long run. The wealth of our nation is the health of its people and their ability to contribute to society.
Technojunkie
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 : 3:54 p.m.
Read up on Paleolithic diets. Lots of meat, eggs, vegetables and healthy fats, no grains, no refined sugar. Works for me. The book "Everyday Paleo" is a great place to start. Federal nutrition guidelines and farm subsidies have more to do with serving the needs of their agribusiness corporatist partners than accurate nutrition.
Think!
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 : 2:47 p.m.
If we truly wanted to improve the health of our citizens, we would provide decent healthcare for everyone. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/health/policy/07medicaid.html" rel='nofollow'>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/health/policy/07medicaid.html</a>
JS
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 : 6:59 p.m.
Or we could hold people accountable for the crap they choose to put in their bodies.
Awakened
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 : 2:33 p.m.
What a colossal waste of money!
xmo
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 : 11:28 a.m.
I think that the survey needs to change it's collection of data methods because who answers a phone? Usually, less educated, older, fatter etc. everybody has a cell phone so they are missing a big part of the population by using old data collection methods. "phone survey of about 2,000 residents every five years since 1995"
spm
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 : 12:34 p.m.
I agree with you about the phone survey. If my husband answers the phone and it's a survey he tells them he doesn't want to answer their questions. They need to start mailing out surveys also to get a larger sample.
Mike D.
Wed, Jul 13, 2011 : 11:23 a.m.
I spend a lot of time in New York City, and it has dramatically lower rates of obesity (not counting tourists from the Midwest) and smoking (not counting tourists from Europe). Not coincidentally, New York banned smoking in the workplace about a decade before Michigan, and it mandated nutritional information on chain restaurant food a few years ago, something Ann Arbor and Michigan haven't yet considered seriously. It's great that we're tracking smoking rates and obesity, but actually doing something about it—and not doing it 10 years late—would be even better.