Pettis County Health Assessment

By Randy Kirby
Managing Editor
Sedalia News Journal

    Unhealthy lifestyles may be responsible for the obesity which finds itself at the top of a list of health concerns of 708 individuals who responded to a recent Pettis County Community Health Assessment.

   The assessment was sent out to 2,500 individuals in Pettis County in November, and 708 of those responded with a completed survey, which was sponsored by the Pettis County Health Center, Bothwell Regional Health Center and the Pettis County Community Partnership (PCCP).

   The top two concerns of the respondents appeared to be overweight adults and overweight children. Numbers three and four were teen pregnancy and unemployment, respectively.

   Four of the top 14 health concerns are directly related to chronic disease, although many of the issues are also indirectly related, the survey concluded.

   The top 14 concerns of the respondents are as follows:
   1. Overweight adults
   2. Overweight children
   3. Teen pregnancy
   4. Unemployment
   5. Roads           
   6. Alcohol and drug abuse
   7. Lack of exercise
   8. Availability and affordability of elder day care
   9. Lack of coping skills
   10. Crime
   11. Job availability
   12. Mosquitoes
   13. Smoking
   14. Job security

   Pettis County Health Center   Director Diana Stout, who presented the findings to the Multicultural Forum on March 2, said the issues of obesity and tobacco usage seems to be "very costly to the individual and the community."

   She estimated that 42.2 percent of residents in Pettis County are currently overweight, and that tobacco and smokeless tobacco usage increases the risk for heart disease and stroke. She noted that rates for respiratory problems and pneumonia are higher in Pettis County than they are statewide.

   In the area of teen pregnancy, the latest figures available show that there is a rate of 8.7 teens becoming pregnant per 1,000 pregnancies in Pettis County. In 1998 when the last similar survey was done, teen pregnancy was the number one concern. This time around, it was number three. "Teen pregnancy is on the decline in Pettis County," Stout said.

   She also noted that the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program at the PCCP is now referred to as the "Healthy Youth Commission."
   Stout pointed out that job security and availability concerns shot up in the most recent survey, compared to the 1998 survey.
   Other concerns that respondents had when answering the assessment involved the access, quality and cost of health care and educational system in Pettis County, among others.
   Comments about health care involved inability to afford co-payments, lack of mental health care   options, difficulty in finding providers who accept new Medicaid clients, and the need for more pediatricians.
   The survey concluded that the comments received about the educational system were aimed mostly at the Sedalia 200 School District, since most of the respondents live in the city of Sedalia.
   Stout said she felt that the survey was a good representation of the county's population, except for the Hispanic community.
   While Hispanics represent about 3.9 percent of the county's population, only 1.1 percent responded to the survey.
   Cheri Heeren, PCCP Executive Director, said that the health assessment was not printed in Spanish.
   The survey asked a number of questions about ethnicity, household income, number of people living in the home, age, sex and employment, as well as questions about routine health care, immunizations, health insurance, nutrition and exercise.
  
The Pettis County Health Assessment can be found here.