UW School of Public Health representatives conducting surveys in Adams County

Eight graduate students from the University of Washington School of Public Health will be in Adams County from Dec. 7 through Dec. 8. These students are working on their Master’s degrees in public health practice.

During their time here they will be working on an assignment at the Adams County Health Department as part of the county’s Community Health Improvement Plan.

The student’s specific assignment will be to develop a clearinghouse of activities for teens in the county. This includes current activities as well as a listing of possible new teen activities.

In order to obtain the information as to what activities are currently available, these students will be speaking with community members within the area.

The specific locations they will be traveling to are Othello, Ritzville, Lind and Washtucna.

By going from business to business they hope to hear from the community members about what barriers the area faces for teens looking to participate in activities. A common barrier is the cost to join sports teams and the cost involved with the equipment for the sport.

In April 2014, a Community Health Needs Assessment Survey (CHNA) took place in the county.

This survey, carried out by the Health Department and other community partners, helped to outline goals and objectives to address community concerns identified by survey participants.

One of the concerns put forth was a lack of positive activities for teens. An activity chosen to address this issue is the development of a clearinghouse of available activities to be accessible to parents, teachers and guardians.

This group of students will be assisting in the above project based on the findings from the last year’s survey.

The other component to the lack of activities for teens is an increase in substance abuse. These two items tend to correlate. If teens are stimulated within their community and have options available, substance abuse decreases.

By discussing the possibilities for the youth in the area, the community is one step closer to identifying any issues faced that can then be solved.

The Community Health Improvement plan includes a variety of objectives. Another objective is creating more walking paths and constantly working to increase the use of those paths. Also, there is a focus on increasing the participation of local grocery stores to label healthy food choices.

Once this survey is complete the group along with Adams County Health Department will identify the specific needs within the community and will produce information in regards to the clearinghouse roster.

This roster will include options for teens and parents to scan and choose activities that are of interest to the child. Additionally their goal is to have these options available electronically so the organizations can be linked directly to the activity.

Though the students will be staying in Othello for the duration of their survey, community members are encouraged to participate in the survey if approached.