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Community

Fewer Smokers but More Are Overweight

QCHI
partners in the Community Health Assessment

There's good news and bad news when it comes to the health of Quad Cities residents. Results of the latest survey by the Quad City Health Initiative show the number of smokers continues to fall, but too many of us are over-weight.

Health Initiative Executive Director Nicole Carkner says this year's Community Health Assessment shows 19 per cent of adults smoke cigarettes, compared to 26 per cent in the first assessment in 2002.
 Twenty-five per cent consider their weight to be healthy, while 73 per cent report being overweight.

"So we continue to talk about how we can encourage a culture of wellness and encourage people to be thinking about nutrition and physical activity as a way to encourage health."

High numbers of local residents also report diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, and drug abuse - all labeled as "areas of opportunity" for health providers in the Quad Cities. While fewer are dying from heart disease and strokes.

Carkner says the Health Assessment is a collaboration by seven organizations, including hospitals and health departments.

"So all of the partners will use this information to start to talk about health improvement in our community and will continue to also discuss this issue with our community organizations and partners of the Quad City Health Initiative."

For more information, including a comparison of the local results to the rest of the nation, go to quadcities.healthforecast.net. 
 

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.