(Spirit Lake)– Dickinson county residents are being urged to participate in an online meeting later this week about cancer and it’s increased prevalence in Iowa. Katy Carey of Dickinson County Public Health says an online meeting will be held this Thursday, January 23rd at 1:00 pm to talk about the latest data for Dickinson county specifically…
“So as we’re hearing in the news, Iowa has the second highest rate of cancer in the United States, which I think for many of us is very surprising and so the University of Iowa is doing a project called The 99 Counties Project where we’re understanding the unique cancer profile for every county in Iowa, because it does differ quite a bit across the map.”
She says representatives from the 99 Counties Project will share the latest data including the rates of new cancers and cancer deaths in Dickinson county and how it compares to the rest of Iowa and the nation…
“What we heard from the fall community health assessment that we do every three years, cancer is one of the top concerns of Dickinson county residents, so over the next three years we will be using this information to inform our health education campaigns and really target some of those things that are of biggest concern for Dickinson county, our highest risk area.”
Carey says there are some theories as to why cancer rates are so high in Iowa…
“There are a lot of behavioral health risk factors. Looking at our alcohol consumption, obesity rates. There’s a lot of things they’ll go into in the meeting and I think there’s also, those are some of the studies. There isn’t a silver bullet as they say. Unfortunately it seems like it’s a collection of different risk factors that are leading to these many types of cancers.”
Those interested in attending the hour-long event can register by clicking here.
