Friday, June 17, 2011
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Matthew Stefanek
Assessment notes unhealthy lifestyles in region
CANFIELD
Preventing suicides is one of the primary goals of a new three-year plan to improve the general health of residents in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
The results of The County Community Health Assessment & Planning Initiative, a yearlong effort by a 27-member steering committee of community leaders, was unveiled Thursday. Kent State University’s College of Public Health assisted with the development plan.
The steering committee, made up of public health, hospital, mental health officials; representatives of community organizations such as the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley and Help Hotline Crisis Center officials; Youngstown State University personnel; and other community leaders, with input from two subcommittees, set five priorities in the form of questions.
They are: “How can we reduce violence and harm in the community? How can we ensure access to physical and behavioral health care? How can we educate and promote healthy behaviors? How can we ensure access to healthy foods and physical activity? How can we protect the environment from harm and ensure a greener Mahoning Valley?”
Matthew Stefanak, Mahoning County District Board of Health commissioner and a steering committee member, explained why reducing the number of suicides was considered a major goal under the priority of reducing violence and harm in the community.
Suicides are preventable deaths, and there are many programs in place to address the problem, he said.
The steering committee applied several criteria to selecting priorities and goals. Among them are the existence of evidence-based strategies and the feasibility of implementing them, said Ken Slenkovich, assistant dean of KSU’s College of Public Health.
Suicide represents mental harm, and it’s something we can do something about by supporting existing programs, Slenkovich said.
Current programs to address suicides and other health and social problems are listed in the study as strengths in the Mahoning Valley, along with public health and health-care systems.
Community weaknesses include violence, unhealthy lifestyles, and lack of access to and awareness of physical and behavioral health-care services.
Threats to health improvement in the Valley include the expected reduction of state and federal financial resources and inappropriate use of hospital emergency rooms.
Stefanak said the yearlong effort represents an “unprecedented level of cooperation” between agencies and public health departments and health systems, and it demonstrated the value of collaborating on an ongoing basis
“Successfully dealing with these problems can only happen when we put our resources together. No one can do it alone,” said Sister Marie Ruegg, senior vice president of Mission Integration for Humility of Mary Health Partners.
“We look forward to working together with other organizations,” she said.