(Spirit Lake)– Community leaders from throughout Dickinson county convened Thursday afternoon to review the findings of a study into the area’s health issues.
Mary Dunleavy of Dickinson County Public Health says the assessment is put together every five years. She says it’s intended to show areas that are needed for improvement.
While Dickinson county ranked well for overall health, Dunleavy says the report did identify several areas of concern. A couple of the shortfalls took many by surprise. Among them is the fact that Dickinson county was ranked 97 out of 99 counties for physical environment. Dunleavy says that’s due to the heavy concentration and availability of liquor in the county.
Another is the suicide rate. According to the study, the suicide rate for Dickinson county is 24.2 percent…considerably higher than the statewide and national rates.
Dickinson county was ranked 26th among Iowa counties for alcohol and drugs as well as for risky sex behavior; 58th in the state for mental health clinical care; and 26th in the state for teen pregnancy.
The group Thursday decided to make wellness and prevention a top priority to be addressed, with a special emphasis being put on obesity.
Dunleavy says to address the issue, she plans to hold community meetings with a special invitation going out to representatives of various youth and adult service clubs throughout the community. It was the concensus of the group Thursday that those groups and others need to be made aware of the report’s findings and that they will play an important role with the Public Health Department in addressing the concerns.
Dunleavy says she plans to hold the meetings over the next couple of months.
