Public Health Week 2010

This week, April 5-8, 2010, is National Public Health Week. That probably doesn’t excite most of you and it is unlikely there will be any parades or celebrations in support of Public Health locally. However, in just the last week every Whitman County resident received in the mail a publication titled “County Health Rankings 2010.” It was a report produced by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute*. In terms of premature death and disability, Whitman County was ranked the third healthiest county in the State of Washington. Now that is a big deal and it definitely deserves to be celebrated.

It also deserves to be explained. What makes Whitman County so special?

The factors leading to longevity and good health go well beyond how many health care providers and hospitals a county has (In fact, Whitman County ranks dead last in that category). Instead, good health is mostly a product of our education, our income, our behaviors, and our environment (natural and man-made). So much of our health destiny is related to where we live that epidemiologists can predict with a high degree of certainty the average life span of any person based on location of residence alone. That’s because our social environment is a huge determinant of our educational achievement, our choice of occupation, and our health behaviors.

There isn’t any reason to think our number three ranking in health outcomes is related to better water, safer food, or cleaner air here in Whitman County. We aren’t much different from our neighboring counties in those respects. After agriculture, Whitman County’s biggest industry is education and one of our biggest exports is educated individuals. That’s the real reason we are so healthy. Add in other attributes such as income, employment, social support, and community safety, and Whitman County ranks number one in the State in terms of social and economic factors related to good health.

So where does Public Health fit in? One hundred years ago, the leading causes of death in the US were all related to infectious disease. Typhoid, measles, dysentery, diphtheria, polio, whooping cough, pneumonia and tuberculosis were very common. We were lucky to live long enough to make it into adulthood. The primary reason we don’t worry about much about these illnesses any more is due to the advancements in Public Health science and the diligence of public health workers. Immunization has nearly eliminated 12 serious childhood diseases. Water treatment makes drinking from the tap a no-risk endeavor. Standards for food safety and air quality let us dine with gusto and breathe with ease.

Most of the threats to our health in this century are due to our individual lifestyle choices. We choose whether or not to eat right, to engage in physical exercise, to smoke cigarettes, and on and on. Public policies, like requirements for immunization, seat-belt use, or sewage disposal, have an enormous impact on our collective and individual health. Most of these regulations are well supported, both by science and the public. And we could probably make laws regulating every health choice one has, but then we would end up with what has been aptly named the “Nanny State.” No one wants that kind of control.

Whitman County is a prime example of how to create healthy communities the right way. Education is the answer. The better informed we are, the more likely we are to make choices that enhance our own health and well being as well as the health and well being of our children. Healthy communities, after all, begin with healthy individuals.

The Whitman County Health Department is here to inform you about the cause, nature and prevention of disease and disability, and to preserve, promote and protect the health of all county residents. Let us know if we can help you. And celebrate with us the good health we all enjoy in Whitman County during National Public Health Week 2010.

* http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/sites/default/files/states/CHR2010_WA.pdf