Kern County's health ranking poor, but some making an effort to improve
| Sunday, Mar 14 2010 12:00 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Mar 14 2010 12:00 PM
Following are some of the health issues considered in the study and how Kern County fared:
* Adult smoking - 20 percent. The estimated percent of the adult population that smokes every day or most days and has smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.
* Adult obesity - 29 percent. The percent of the adult population that has a body mass index classifying them as obese.
* Binge drinking - 15 percent. The percent of adults who report drinking more than four (for women) or five (for men) alcoholic beverages on a single occasion in the past 30 days.
* Diabetic screening - 75 percent. The percent of diabetic Medicare patients whose blood sugar control was screened in the past year using a test of their glycated hemoglobin levels.
A recent report ranking Kern among the worst counties in the state in terms of health should serve as a wake-up call to residents, local health officials said.
"What that study says is we can't ignore this, it's not going to go away on its own," county Public Health Officer Dr. Claudia Jonah said.
Kern ranked 51st out of 56 counties examined in the 2010 County Health Rankings report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Marin County ranked first and Los Angeles County was near the midway point at 26th.
Among the couple dozen factors the study looked at were premature death, unemployment, high school graduation rates and obesity. Kern's unemployment rate was 10 percent at the time of the study, but recent figures show it has soared to 17.1 percent. Adult obesity in the county, according to the report, is at 29 percent as measured by body mass index.
Jonah said there are huge challenges in Kern because there have been chronic issues with residents' health stemming from everything from diseases to socio-economic status. For example, there are people suffering from diabetes who aren't taking care of themselves the way they should, and there are low-income families buying fast food instead of fruits and vegetables.
"People have bad habits they've developed and have taught their children and with each generation they get further entrenched," Jonah said.
Some people in the community are working toward change.
Jennifer Lopez, of Get Moving Kern, said a group of parents who met at a nutrition class decided to form a walking group. They went to Stiern Park and found graffiti, needles, stray dogs and drug dealers. Instead of giving up, the parents and other area residents cleaned up the park with assistance from Lopez.
"Many of the serious changes could not have happened without that partnership," Lopez said.
Local youth also got involved in the effort. Oscar Encinas, 16, helped build a walking path in the park and helped design the playground.
Encinas said he got involved when he saw his mother and other parents working to make the park a safe place. He said he believes most teens he knows are getting exercise, and those who aren't should get involved in school sports or other activities that get them out of the house.
Exercise plays a part in improving health, but so do eating habits. Dr. Avtar Nijjer-Sidhu helped start a farmer's market at the Kern County Department of Public Health three years ago to give low-income families access to healthy food at affordable prices.
"We're not just handing out a pamphlet, we're providing access to these foods," Nijjer-Sidhu said.
The department, located at 1800 Mt. Vernon Ave., is in an area that's overrun with fast food establishments, she said. It was important to provide people with an alternative.
The farmer's market is held for a few hours each week from mid-May to mid-September.
Nijjer-Sidhu, the community health capacity building specialist at the department, said it's going to take a lot of small changes before any impact is made on Kern's health ranking. Something as simple as starting to walk every day or eating healthier can help effect overall change in the community.
"People need to take small steps that over time will have important outcomes," she said.
