Federal health study targets Mat-Su residents

March 20, 2005

DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

How healthy are Valley residents? How do they compare with other people, nationwide?

The National Center for Health Statistics will be in the process of answering those questions this summer when it conducts a three-month-long survey of a sample of Valley residents. The nutritional survey, to be done during June, July and August, includes an interview process and a physical examination of the participants.

NCHS, a division within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will explain how it plans to conduct the survey during a presentation Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Assembly chambers of the borough building in Palmer.

A second presentation will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday for residents of the Susitna Valley side of the borough, at the Willow Community Center, located at Mile 69.7 Parks Hwy.

At the two meetings, an NCHS representative will talk about the goals of the survey, which is designed to gather information on the health and nutritional level of children and adults, as well as give information about how the survey will be conducted.

On an annual basis, NCHS "examines a nationally representative sample of about 5,000 individuals," according to a press release.

The division selects 15 sites each year, and the Mat-Su Borough was selected for 2005's survey.

"This is great. I'm thinking if the feds do this, how many grants may be on the other side? If there's an anomaly that needs to be addressed, if there's federal funds that exist for mitigating that risk, then we'll have data in hand," Assistant Borough Manager Marian Romano said Friday.

"That's a big plus when doing grant writing," she said, adding it could mean money for educational outreach, or extra fruits and vegetables for schools or other health-related programs.

"If they find out we're perfectly healthy and fit, we can market our great vegetables grown in the Mat-Su Valley," Romano said.

Romano said she looked forward to seeing the results of the survey.

"When we read surveys that happen all across the country, we say, 'Well, that's Chicago. I wonder how we stack up?'" she said, adding that the nutritional survey would provide real, credible information.

According to the NCHS Web site, the health statistics allow the division to "provide information for making changes in public policies and programs (and) evaluate the impact of health policies and programs."

The NCHS surveys also provide statistics that assist in recognizing health problems, supplying information for research in the biomedical or health services areas and documenting individuals' experiences with the health-care system.

Health statistics also help identify disparities in the health status and health-care use of different segments of the population, which would be arranged in subgroups by religion, age, socioeconomic status and ethnicity. The statistics are also compiled on NCHS' Web site, www.fedstats.gov/key_statsNCHSkey.html.