A healthier place: Citizens asked to assess, address community health

By Mary Owen

Health advocates from throughout the Santiam Canyon gathered at Santiam Memorial Hospital last month to kick-off the Santiam Canyon Community Health Improvement Plan.

“The first step is to bring the community together to look at the health data from our survey,” Pam Heilman, public health division director for the Marion County Health Department, told representatives from the education, business, nonprofit, health and law enforcement sectors gathered on July 26 in Freres Auditorium.

Silverton and Salem hospitals recently met to launch CHIP, as the plan is known, putting into action a grassroots effort by communities to identify, address and improve the health of their citizenry. The last of the four regional participants, Wellspring Medical Center in Woodburn, hosts its CHIP meeting on Aug. 1.

The 20-question community health survey, the first step in the CHIP process, was distributed by the Marion County Health Department through community partners and online in January and February, drawing 1,965 respondents. Out of those, 226 were people, mainly women, living in the Stayton / Santiam Canyon area.
Reduce junk food in local schools, make available more affordable health care and insurance, and provide more service to rural areas were some of the concerns identified by survey participants.

The county’s goal is to form community work groups that will meet between September and November to look at the survey data and prioritize what health measures are the most critical to address, Heilman said.

“Top chronic diseases were the same for both Santiam Canyon and Marion County,” she told participants, “high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes and chronic pain.”

According to the CHIP survey, top health concerns for the Santiam Canyon were: cost of care/insurance followed by obesity, substance abuse, mental health and access to care. For Marion County: cost of care/insurance followed by obesity, substance abuse, diabetes and mental health.

Heilman said a county plan will be developed to improve health outreach based on regional priorities and implementation by local communities. Groups, who will brainstorm about what health in their communities might look like, will be checked on twice a year, she added.

According to spokesperson Tonya Johnson, MCHD, with permission of Salem Health, developed a handout listing the top 10 measures of health in the county:

Adults who are obese – 28.3 percent with Body Mass Index greater than 30.

Adults engaging in regular physical activity – 53.6 percent who exercise at least 30 minutes five days per week.

Adults with asthma – 10 percent.

Age-Adjusted death rate due to colorectal cancer – 21 percent per 100,000 population.

Mothers who received early prenatal care – 59.8 percent of births to mothers who began care in their first trimester.

Pneumonia vaccination rate for seniors 65 and older – 68.4 percent.

Teen fruit and vegetable consumption – 19 percent of 11th grade students who ate five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day during the seven days preceding the survey.

Teen pregnancy rate – 40.6 per 1,000 for females aged 15-17.

Teens who engage in regular physical activity – 49.5 percent of 11th grade students who were physically active for at least 60 minutes per day on five or more of the seven days preceding the survey.

Teens who use marijuana – 14.2 percent of 11th grade students who used the drug one or more times during the 30 days before the survey was administered.

Participants split into groups to discuss what’s available in Canyon communities to positively impact the 10 health measure indicators and how communities can fill in the gaps to promote quality of life.

“Stayton was found to be a safe place to raise a family,” spokesperson Emily de Hayr told those gathered.
“It’s a place that welcomes all backgrounds.”

Stayton offers many outlets that promote health lifestyles, she added.

Some of the pluses identified to advance health and exercise in Stayton and other local communities included the availability of city parks, school tracks, walking trails, businesses, churches and youth groups, and in Stayton, the community pool.

“We could do with Volks walks and more fitness stations at parks,” a group member shared. “Businesses and churches could develop more walking groups.”

Other proactive suggestions included: sponsoring a community Back to Health event; replacing junk food with healthier snacks in vending machines; promoting family meal time; hosting classes to educate individuals in the 10 target groups; including parents in warm-ups at children’s sports activities; making physical activity more fun for teens; mentoring children who are home alone after school and before dinner; and making health solutions more accessible.

“It is possible that great opportunities will come as communities begin to implement the plan,” Heilman said.