By Timothy Jensen
Utah is the 3rd healthiest of the fifty United States, according to a recent United Health Foundation report -- 3rd only to Minnesota and New Hampshire, which tied in the rankings for 1st.
According to the national report, Utah''s greatest health strengths are cancer mortality and low prevalence of smoking. Utah ranked first in heart disease mortality, ranked second ranked seventh in total mortality. Nationally, Americans are 17 percent healthier now than they were 13 years ago, according to the American Public Health Association.
'The rankings symbolize much of the valuable work done in public health,' said Steve McDonald, Utah Department of Health spokesperson. 'Utah is fortunate to have prominent community, family and environmental supports that often lead to healthier behaviors.'
The rankings were determined looking at each state''s prevalence of smoking, crime, number of children in poverty and the lack of health insurance to name a few. The analysis also included measures infant mortality, infectious diseases, heart-related deaths and cancer deaths per 100,000 people.
'I think for the most part the state of Utah is a proactive state as far as public health goes,' said Terri Sory, president-elect of Utah Public Health Association.
Despite the high national ranking, Utah department of health officials still have concerns, McDonald said.
'Just like the rest of the nation, we have a big problem with obesity here,' he said. 'Young children are developing type II diabetes brought on because of bad diets and over weight problems.'
Sory said 61 percent of adults nationally are either obese or overweight. Utah is not much better at 57 percent.
'We need to work toward our obesity epidemic,' Sory said. 'We need to remember that heart disease is the number one killer, and obesity and being overweight are the large contributors to that.'
To solve these health concerns, UDOH implements proactive campaigns to educate residents, said Rulon Barlow, Utah County Health Department Board of Directors chairman and director of BYU Student Health Center.
'Knowing we''re third doesn''t suggest we''re sitting back,' Barlow said. 'We measure ourselves against ourselves.'
In terms of medical care, Utah has a wonderful health care system, McDonald said. But you have to educate a population to motivate them to use the health care system and take care of themselves, he said.
'Educating requires the efforts of everyone, and it involves a lot of team work,' Barlow said. 'It is always something you focus on.'
Combined efforts of UDOH employees, community volunteers and health specialists, result in effective campaigns geared to educating a multitude of publics, McDonald said. Multi-level campaigns are an effective tool in educating the general public, he said.
The newest campaign the Utah Department of Health is implementing addresses skin cancer. 'Don''t take the sun lightly' is the primary message delivered.
'We are starting to see good results,' McDonald said.
It is hard to evaluate results, but UDOH records statistics and they are able to see that the campaigns achieve impressive results, McDonald said.
Another successful campaign is the 'Truth' campaign, McDonald said. 'Truth' is geared to persuade people to quit smoking through educating them about its negative consequences.
'There are excellent results in numbers of people who are calling for help and actually stopping smoking because of that campaign,' he said.
UDOH administrators are not the only ones who said they agreed the multi-level campaigns are successful.
'I think we have an excellent state department,' said Dr. David Flinders, Assistant Director of the Utah Valley Family Practice Center. 'They are very proactive to inform people. They work hard, and effectively address common health problems.'