Public Health in Oregon - Join The Conversation

Well, it’s finally here; the long awaited smokefree workplace law in Oregon arrives in just a few hours. We only happen to be the 24th state to sign up but what the heck, we made it. We’re even behind many countries and very large cities (like Mexico City) who have gone before us and have dared the critics that it wouldn’t work, that businesses would be run out of town, that peopel and businesses woudl be fined left and right! Well every new law takes soem time for compliance and I’m sure there will be some problems but for the most part this law helps people quit smoking, stay quit if they already have quit, and protect everyone from secondhand smoke. I have been working on this issues since 1989 in California and have not stopped. I am the person to call if there is a violation in Multnomah County. Please call 503-988-4163. Your complaint will be registered and dealt with anonymously and confidentialy. Happy New Year to all those who plan to quit and who have helped others or who have helped with the passing of this law.

E C Vidstrand
Community Health Educator
Multnomah County Health Department

We have started a project:  Planting Seeds of Change, An Edible Educational Endeavor in order to change the eating habits of our children.  In Lebanon, OR, the program is in its infancy.  Similar programs are cropping up around the nation. We are training the students in the Lebanon School District to learn through a teaching gardening.  We have plans for a ‘production’ garden as well as a 100 tree orchard on school grounds.  Students will plant/harvest food for their lunches.  Our goal is to put organic vegetables into every school in the district. Teaching all subjects through the garden is possible.  Math scores have already risen in the first trimester.  Expansion to a training program for parents is next.  This will emcompass most of the town of Lebanon when we are fully up and running. Our other goal is to reduce obesity in the community through health/gardening education.

Any discussion of health and wellness must take into account the reality of disparity and inequity for communities of color.  Any health/wellness related issue disproportionally impacts communitites of color.  When poverty is added to the mix, the resultant impact is significant.

The passage of the Governor’s Healty Kids Plan is a great start to getting more of Oregon’s kids insured.  The next step is to get them into providers for their health care.  School-Based Health Centers are a great way for kids to access quality health care.  Health care where the kids are…in the schools.  Make sense.  Saves time and money. Allows parents to stay on the job.  Helps keep kids in school and learning.  School-baed health care makes sense.

I wish holistic/eastern medicine were better promoted. Or at least more of a dialogue were built up around it. A knowledge of native plants and their benefits could help people who cannot afford Western medicine. Please give APANO (asian pacific american network of oregon) the $500

I support Gov Paterson’s move to tax ‘nondiet’ soda in the state of NY, but I’m still wondering why this will exclude ‘diet’ sodas.   

    A 2005 study at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and separate studies released in 2007 at the University of Alberta in Canada and the University of Massachusetts found that diet soda drinkers were more likely than regular soda drinkers to be obese.

  Additionally, several studies by U.S. and European researchers have tied the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet), which is used to sweeten many diet sodas, to cancer, headaches and organ damage…

  So, we should tax all soda because it’s doubtful that regular Coke drinkers will quit soda and drink water instead.  More likely that they will grab a diet pop or tropicana juice.  What if we had only taxed non-filtered cigarettes? They smokers may have switched around their preference of smoke instead of quit completely.

  Ultimately, the question is, how do we encourage a change in behavior so that the preferred choice is water?

Tessa C McKenzie
Oregon MPH

LGBTQ health issues need to be addressed in any conversation about health policy.  Providors often need more information about issues specific to this community, especially in the area of preventive care. Also, youth in this group who may be alienated from their families have high rates of depression which can lead to substance abuse and suicidal thoughts.  Although the Metro area does have some good resources, much more needs to be done in the rural areas to educate providors and develop resources.

Why is Washington #1, and Oregon #2 in breast cancer rates in the nation? Why is Oregon #4 in suicide rates in the nation, and why does north Tillamook County where I practice have one of the highest suicide rates in Oregon? Every day I’m bombarded with literature from insurance companies, the state Department of Health, CDC, etc. with admonitions, plans, programs etc. to address prevention of chronic disease. Meanwhile I and many of you are working 60 hours a week mopping up the disasters created by lack of preventive services.  Where do these organizations not in the trenches imagine we will have the time, energy, knowledge, and resources to really put prevention into practice?  Beats me.  So last week we submitted a grant to Regents for $20K to develop a comprehensive prevention program for rural practices. The goal will be to move from one of the sickest to the healthiest Service Area in the state, then the nation. Despite local poverty, seasonal jobs without benefits, and the economy. A principal will be group (herd) identification and behavior change. Patients are excited about this. I think it will be the motivator I’ve been looking for the last 36 years. I’ll keep you posted.

I would suggest trying to reduce the overall financial burden of the health care system by instituting an assertive and focused statewide prevention plan. Many health related problems are preventable by a sensible diet and vigorous daily exercise. The CDC has recently posted their recommendations. Three hundred minutes (300) is the minimum amount of physical activity per week to maximize our gains in preventing chronic disease. I suggest the first group targeted for focused prevention efforts be men between the ages of 40 and 60.

Did you know that the State of Oregon is considering cutting Employee Related Day Care—- a state childcare subsidy? The effect of this on kids and families will be severe. It’s expected that 700 childcare providers would go out of business and thousands of children and families would be without services. For the sake or our childrens’ and our communities’ health, we need to advocate for maintaining this much needed resource.

my 2 cents,

Jill

How the March of Dimes has helped our local community in 2008. 1,000 families throughout Oregon and SW Washington whose newborns required neonatal intensive care at OHSU were provided emotional and informational support through March of Dimes NICU Family Support.

Through our community grants program over 3,600 high risk pregnant women in our chapter area received enhanced prenatal care services, outreach and maternity case management to improve both their health and the health of their newborns.

Approximately one million dollars in research funds were committed to researchers in the chapter who are searching for the causes and prevention of preterm birth and birth defects and the most effective treatments strategies for babies born with these conditions.

Even in a relatively small town such as Longview,WA we have a homeless problem.  In 1987 a group of community leaders raised $100,000 in just a few weeks to purchase a building and start a homeless shelter.  Over the years we have developed programs to help our residents (we are not a one-night flop house or soup kitchen) figure out what rendered them homeless and how to change that status - do they need a GED, job training, household budgeting training, etc?
We now refer to ourselves as a homeless recovery center.  We have some limited medical help on site and collaborate with the Cowlitz Free Clinic and we are a gathering place for veterans who get VA help either at our site or they can board the veterans’ bus at Community House on Broadway for a trip to VA facilities outside our area.
Each “serving agency” in a community needs to partner with others to help homeless find the medical care they need.  At least once or twice each month a person is discharged from our hospital with nowehere else to go.  At Community House we endeavor to meet their needs or help find a place which can care for them
Pat Martin

While everybody talks about the healthcare personnel shortage in the Pacific Northwest, Lower Columbia College (LCC), in Longview, WA, is doing something about it. LCC will launch the first online first year of nursing program, RONE (Rural Outreach Nursing Education) in January 2009. This model allows students to in remote rural areas in Washington State,to remain in their communities and jobs as healthcare incumbent workers while starting up the nursing ladder. The RONE steering committee, consisting of such stakeholders as rural hospital administrators, Western and Eastern Washington Area Health Education Centers, Washington Center of Nursing, Health Work Force Institute, and the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, worked together for a year and a half, finding funding sources to make this dream a reality. More about RONE can be found on the Lower Columbia College website.

Any discussion of health care reform must include how health care services are delivered to individuals and families who are at risk of homelessness, hunger, disconnection from utilities, etc. In other words, individuals who are struggling with their most basic needs and how the failure of gaining access to those needs will compound any existing medical conditions. Medically frail people are released from the hospital every day who have no home to go to or who are at risk of losing their home due to eviction because of lack of income. These individuals may also face an empty cupboard, no heat or electricity, or may be unable to fill their prescriptions. It is not uncommon for our agency to receive several requests for assistance on a weekly basis from individuals fighting cancer or a chronic disease, while simultaneously facing the prospect of homelessness or hunger. It is vital that health care providers and advocates understand the relationship played by social service providers and the resources that are available in their community.