Montana Archives - Page 17 of 17

New Report Finds Adult Obesity Rates Decreased in Four States

Obesity Rates Remain High: 25 States have Adult Obesity Rates above 30 Percent

Washington, D.C., September 1, 2016 – U.S. adult obesity rates decreased in four states (Minnesota, Montana, New York and Ohio), increased in two (Kansas and Kentucky) and remained stable in the rest, between 2014 and 2015, according to The State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America, a report from the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). This marks the first time in the past decade that any states have experienced decreases – aside from a decline in Washington, D.C. in 2010.

Despite these modest gains, obesity continued to put millions of Americans at increased risk for a range of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, and costs the country between $147 billion and $210 billion each year.

In 2015, Louisiana has the highest adult obesity rate at 36.2 percent and Colorado has the lowest at 20.2 percent. While rates remained steady for most states, they are still high across the board. The 13^th annual report found that rates of obesity now exceed 35 percent in four states, are at or above 30 percent in 25 states and are above 20 percent in all states. In 1991, no state had a rate above 20 percent. The analyses are based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

The State of Obesity also found that:

9 of the 11 states with the highest obesity rates are in the South and 22 of the 25 states with the highest rates of obesity are in the South and Midwest.
10 of the 12 states with the highest rates of diabetes are in the South.
American Indian/Alaska Natives have an adult obesity rate of 42.3 percent.
Adult obesity rates are at or above 40 percent for Blacks in 14 states.
Adult obesity rates are at or above 30 percent in: 40 states and Washington, D.C. for Blacks; 29 states for Latinos; and 16 states for Whites.

There is some evidence that the rate of increase has been slowing over the past decade. For instance, in 2005, 49 states experienced an increase; in 2008, 37 states did; in 2010, 28 states did; in 2011, 16 states did; in 2012, only one state did; and in 2014, only two states did. (Note: the methodology for BRFSS changed in 2011).

In addition, recent national data show that childhood obesity rates have stabilized at 17 percent over the past decade. Rates are declining among 2- to 5-year-olds, stable among 6- to 11-year-olds, and increasing among 12- to 19-year-olds. There are significant racial and ethnic inequities, with rates higher among Latino (21.9 percent) and Black (19.5 percent) children than among White (14.7 percent) children.

“Obesity remains one of the most significant epidemics our country has faced, contributing to millions of preventable illnesses and billions of dollars in avoidable healthcare costs,” said Richard Hamburg, interim president and CEO, TFAH. “These new data suggest that we are making some progress but there’s more yet to do. Across the country, we need to fully adopt the high-impact strategies recommended by numerous experts. Improving nutrition and increasing activity in early childhood, making healthy choices easier in people’s daily lives and targeting the startling inequities are all key approaches we need to ramp up.”

Some other findings from the report include:

The number of high school students who drink one or more soda a day has dropped by nearly 40 percent since 2007, to around one in five (20.4 percent) (note: does not include sport/energy drinks, diet sodas or water with added sugars).
The number of high school students who report playing video or computer games three or more hours a day has increased more than 88 percent since 2003 (from 22.1 to 41.7 percent).
More than 29 million children live in “food deserts,” and more than 15 million children live in “food-insecure” households with not enough to eat and limited access to healthy food.
The federal government has provided more than $90 million via 44 Healthy Food Financing Initiative awards in 29 states since 2011, helping leverage more than $1 billion and create 2,500 jobs.
Farm-to-School programs now serve more than 42 percent of schools and 23.6 million children.
18 states and Washington, D.C. require a minimum amount of time that elementary students must participate in physical education; 14 states and Washington, D.C. require a minimum amount for middle schoolers; and six states require a minimum amount for high schoolers.

The report also includes a set of priority policy recommendations to accelerate progress in addressing obesity:

Invest in Obesity Prevention: Providing adequate funding for the Prevention and Public Health Fund and for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion/Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity would increase support to state and local health departments.
Focus on Early Childhood Policies and Programs: Supporting better health among young children through healthier meals, physical activity, limiting screen time and connecting families to community services through Head Start; prioritizing early childhood education opportunities under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA); and implementing the updated nutrition standards covering the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
School-Based Policies and Programs: Continuing implementation of the final “Smart Snacks” rule for improved nutrition for snacks and beverages sold in schools; eliminating in-school marketing of foods that do not meet Smart Snacks nutrition standards; and leveraging opportunities to support health, physical education and activity under ESSA.
Community-Based Policies and Programs: Prioritizing health in transportation planning to help communities ensure residents have access to walking, biking, and other forms of active transportation and promoting innovative strategies, such as tax credits, zoning incentives, grants, low-interest loans and public-private partnerships to increase access to healthy, affordable foods.
Health, Healthcare and Obesity: Covering the full range of obesity prevention, treatment and management services under all public and private health plans, including nutrition counseling, medications and behavioral health consultation, along with encouraging an uptake in services for all eligible beneficiaries.

“This year’s State of Obesity report is an urgent call to action for government, industry, healthcare, schools, child care and families around the country to join in the effort to provide a brighter, healthier future for our children. It focuses on important lessons and signs of progress, but those efforts must be significantly scaled to see a bigger turn around,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of RWJF. “Together, we can build an inclusive Culture of Health and ensure that all children and families live healthy lives.”

The State of Obesity report (formerly known as F as in Fat), with state rankings and interactive maps, charts and graphs, is available at http://stateofobesity.org. Follow the conversation at #StateofObesity.

2015 STATE-BY-STATE ADULT OBESITY RATES

Based on an analysis of new state-by-state data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, adult obesity rates by state from highest to lowest were:

Note: 1 = Highest rate of adult obesity, 51 = lowest rate of adult obesity.

1. Louisiana (36.2); 2. (tie) Alabama (35.6), Mississippi (35.6) and West Virginia (35.6); 5. Kentucky (34.6); 6. Arkansas (34.5); 7. Kansas (34.2); 8. Oklahoma (33.9); 9. Tennessee (33.8); 10. (tie) Missouri (32.4) and Texas (32.4); 12. Iowa (32.1); 13. South Carolina (31.7); 14. Nebraska (31.4); 15. Indiana (31.3); 16. Michigan (31.2); 17. North Dakota (31.0); 18. Illinois (30.8); 19. (tie) Georgia (30.7) and Wisconsin (30.7); 21. South Dakota (30.4); 22. (tie) North Carolina (30.1) and Oregon (30.1); 24. (tie) Maine (30.0) and Pennsylvania (30.0); 26. (tie) Alaska (29.8) and Ohio (29.8); 28. Delaware (29.7); 29. Virginia (29.2); 30. Wyoming (29.0); 31. Maryland (28.9); 32. New Mexico (28.8); 33. Idaho (28.6); 34. Arizona (28.4); 35. Florida (26.8); 36. Nevada (26.7); 37. Washington (26.4); 38. New Hampshire (26.3); 39. Minnesota (26.1); 40. Rhode Island (26.0); 41. New Jersey (25.6); 42. Connecticut (25.3); 43. Vermont (25.1); 44. New York (25.0); 45. Utah (24.5); 46. Massachusetts (24.3); 47. California (24.2); 48. Montana (23.6); 49. Hawaii (22.7); 50. District of Columbia (22.1); 51. Colorado (20.2).

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Trust for America‘s Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority.

For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are striving to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.

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A Menu Approach to Public Health: Empowering People to Take Responsibility for their Health Choices

By Tracy Neary, Director of Mission Outreach and Community Benefit, St. Vincent Healthcare

For nearly twenty years, St. Vincent Healthcare, a care site operated by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System (SCL Health System), the Billings Health Clinic and RiverStone Health, our local health department, have been working together to address complex community wide health issues by adopting intervention strategies identified through a recurring CHNA.

A significant early collaboration came in 1994 when the CHNA showed access to prescription medications was a major issue for our community. We created a medication assistance program (MAP) that helped patients who couldn’t afford prescriptions obtain them.

Last year, MAP advocates, funded in part by St. Vincent Healthcare, assisted approximately 1,200 people with accessing medication worth more than four million dollars. What began as a single access point has expanded to a dozen locations across our community.

The initial collaboration, which began in the early 1990s, between the three organizations became more formal with a Memorandum of Understanding in 2001 to create “The Alliance”. Chief executives of our two competing hospitals and the public health department committed organizational expertise in planning, communication, advocacy, community benefit and clinical services to help lead community efforts to improve health.

Through a CHNA, we found there was a significant need for mental health services, as hospital emergency departments were being inundated with people who didn’t really need medical care but were admitted because of a mental health crisis. Knowing that emergency rooms are not typically the best place for mental health interventions, we created a joint partnership with the two hospitals to build the Community Crisis Center (CCC), the first licensed out-patient crisis management program in Montana.

Now, the CCC is staffed 24 hours per day, seven days per week with a combination of registered nurses, licensed mental health therapists, and mental health technicians. During an outpatient visit, clients are stabilized and assessed to facilitate the development of a crisis management plan.

The CCC has successfully reduced inappropriate utilization of local emergency departments, decreased the number of short-term inpatient hospital admissions, and has been a driving force in reducing the inmate population at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility.

Additionally, the CCC offers crisis intervention training to law enforcement officers in the region. Officers learn how to recognize mental health distress and de-escalate individuals rather than interacting with people in a way that escalates anxiety. Law enforcement officers credit the training with helping them more effectively respond to situations involving individuals with mental health disorders, especially those in suicidal situations.

One of our crisis intervention program officers, off duty at the time, was driving across a bridge and a man was on it threatening suicide. The officer was able to talk the person down without anyone getting hurt.

This is one example of how a community program has a wide-reaching public health benefit. Instead of the individual hurting himself and/or others, no one was hurt and the appropriate part of our community’s medical system (the mental health portion versus an emergency department) was involved.

In 2005, RiverStone Health underwent an assessment of the public health system’s performance in the 10 Essential Public Health Services established by CDC. The assessment was conducted using the National Public Health Performance Standards Program (NPHPSP), also established by the CDC. A key outcome of that assessment was an understanding of the need to perform a community health assessment and develop a community plan. The Alliance then sponsored the 2006 CHNA where childhood and adult obesity, heart disease, diabetes, nutritional intake, unintentional injury, and chronic depression were identified areas of weakness. Physical activity, nutrition, and well-being were selected as the areas of improvement because of their inter-connectedness and their collective benefit on our community’s health. The results moved us to thinking about longer term population health improvements through policy, system and environmental change strategies. We began by creating an operational work plan, “The PITCH.” The Plan to Improve the Community’s Health (PITCH) focuses on physical activity, nutrition, and well-being. PITCH is intended to increase awareness and knowledge of, as well as access to, healthier lifestyles in Yellowstone County.

This plan was developed with a broad variety of community stakeholders who participate in achieving the identified goals as part of a broad coalition. With the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, one of the most impactful early Health Impact Assessments (HIA) we completed was with our city/county master growth plan. Results of the HIA led to the adoption of a new health section within the plan in 2008, which set the foundation for later success in adopting a complete streets policy for Billings. This accomplishment was supported in large part by our work with Action Communities for Health, Innovation, and EnVironmental ChangE (ACHIEVE).

As one of the ten original participants in the Healthy Weight Collaborative, a project of the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) and HRSA, we partnered with primary care providers to better document body mass index (BMI) in medical records and, if a BMI was too high, offer a patient-directed healthy weight plan. The efforts have created new collaboration between providers and community organizations.

The partnership has also launched an effort into the worksite by developing physical activity and nutrition guidelines. We found that it is important to create a menu approach of evidenced-based practices that have been shown to increase physical activity (i.e., promoting use of stairwells, on-site exercise classes, etc.). The menu option allows businesses to pick and choose which policies are appropriate in their environment and also empowers employers. A similar project, the “Healthy By Design” (HBD) endorsement, was developed as a way of promoting events in Billings that are designed with health in mind. This endorsement is done through an application process and each application is reviewed and evaluated by a team of experts. There are five criteria: safety; nutrition; physical activity; prevention and wellness; and environmental stewardship.

As we look to the future and our interconnected health system, we see a community that is Healthy By Design with active people working to improve their own health and the health of those around them. It is a dream we plan to realize by continuing our work to identify unmet health needs and leading efforts to coordinate a community based response. We recognize the critical importance of key stakeholders in economic development, private business, city government, education, strategic planners in addition to traditional health partners. Our website, www.healthybydesginyellowstone.org includes our CHNA, work plans, accomplishments and a variety of tools we have developed to achieve our vision.