Health Survey Shows Obesity Rising in Western Washtenaw County

A new survey conducted by the Washtenaw County Department of Public Health shows an alarming trend for residents of Dexter and other parts of western Washtenaw County.

The department released its 2010 Health Improvement Plan survey on Wednesday, which shows 60 percent of county residents are obese or overweight, compared with about half of residents five years ago.

"The HIP survey is like a check up for the whole community – it helps us understand health at a broader, or population level," Keven Mosley-Koehler, senior health analyst and survey coordinator said.

Mosley-Koehler said the survey is conducted every five years and costs approximately $100,000 to administer to roughly 2,000 residents countywide. Residents are chosen at random and asked a series of 100 questions over the telephone that focus on eating habits, substance abuse, sexual partners and access to fresh food, among others.

Mosley-Koehler said similiar to 2005, the survey continues to show worsening health problems in rural communities such as Chelsea, Dexter and Manchester. For instance, 9 percent of respondents in western Washtenaw County said they regularly eat and have access to five servings of fruits and vegetables a day versus 18 percent countywide. In addition, 20 percent of respondents in western Washtenaw County said they smoked or used tobacco versus 12 percent countywide. Obesity is also higher in the rural areas of the county (63 percent), Mosley-Koehler said.

"While individuals need to make good choices for themselves, these results show that opportunities to do so are not the same for everyone in our community. Some face more barriers than others,” she said.

Amy Heydlauff, executive director of the Chelsea-Area Wellness Society, said it is not uncommon for rural communities to have lower health scores than urban areas.

"National studies on this trend are beginning to grow, but speculation points to lack of access to sidewalks, grocery stores and health care providers in rural communities," she said. "We hope communities in western Washtenaw County will direct their energy to addressing the health findings in this survey."

Additional findings include:

• More Ann Arbor adults (13 percent) report using illicit drugs in the past year than in the county as a whole (7 percent) or in other geographic areas.
• More residents of Chelsea, Dexter and Manchester (15 percent) reported binge drinking in the last month, than the rest of the county (13 percent).
• Eighty-four percent of Washtenaw County mothers surveyed report breastfeeding their babies. The percentage dropped to 76 percent among African-American mothers. 
• The number of adults reporting 10 or more poor mental health days in the past month increased from 10 percent in 2005 to 14 percent in 2010. The most recent survey also indicates that 22 percent of all county adults reported having been diagnosed with depression.

The data will help determine where the county should focus its dollars and its energy in the future, Mosley-Koehler said. She said the survey provides local communities a tool when applying for health grants to promote healthy lifestyles.

"Communities can be designed in such a way that help individuals make healthy over unhealthy choices,” she said. "Change will have to occur over time. It took decades for obesity, diabetes and other chronic ailments to become prevalent in society. It is going to take decades to instill cultural values that will tip people to make healthy choices."