Re: Huntington, WV obesity ranks #1
wis...@yahoo.com
wrote:
><hp...@lycos.com> wrote in message
>news:38fe8b5d-a989-458a...@s9g2000prm.googlegroups.com...
>On Nov 17, 4:48 pm, wis...@yahoo.com wrote:
>> On Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:01:18 -0800 (PST), "(David P.)"
>>
>>
>>
>> <imb...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>> >[I stole this article -- have me arrested for theft!]
>>
>> >W. Virginia town shrugs at poorest health ranking
>>
>> >By MIKE STOBBE (AP Medical Writer)
>> >Nov 16, 2008
>>
>> >HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - As a portly woman
>> >plodded ahead of him on the sidewalk,
>> >the obese mayor of America's fattest
>> >and unhealthiest city explained why
>> >health is not a big local issue.
>>
>> >"It doesn't come up," said David
>> >Felinton, 5-foot-9 and 233 pounds,
>> >as he walked toward City Hall one
>> >recent morning. "We've got a lot of
>> >economic challenges here in Huntington.
>> >That's usually the focus."
>>
>> >Huntington's economy has withered,
>> >its poverty rate is worse than the
>> >national average, and vagrants haunt
>> >a downtown riverfront park. But this
>> >city's financial woes are not nearly
>> >as bad as its health.
>>
>> >Nearly half the adults in Huntington's
>> >five-county metropolitan area are obese -
>> >an astounding percentage, far bigger
>> >than the national average in a country
>> >with a well-known weight problem.
>>
>> >Huntington leads in a half-dozen other
>> >illness measures, too, including heart
>> >disease and diabetes. It's even tops
>> >in the percentage of elderly people who
>> >have lost all their teeth (half of them
>> >have).
>>
>> >It's a sad situation, and a potential
>> >harbinger of what will happen to other
>> >U.S. communities, said Ken Thorpe, an
>> >Emory University health policy professor
>> >who's workin' with W. Virginia officials
>> >on health reform legislation.
>>
>> >"They may be at the very top, but
>> >obesity and diabetes trends are very
>> >similar" in many other communities,
>> >particularly in the South, Thorpe said.
>>
>> >The Huntington area's health problems,
>> >cited in a U.S. health report, are a
>> >terrible distinction for the city, but
>> >the locals barely talk about it. Many
>> >don't even know how poorly the city ranks.
>>
>> >Culture and history are at least part
>> >of the problem, health officials say.
>>
>> >This city on the Ohio River is surrounded
>> >by Appalachia's thinly populated hills.
>> >It has long been a blue-collar, white-
>> >skinned community - overwhelmingly people
>> >of English, Irish and German ancestry.
>>
>> >For decades, Huntington thrived with the
>> >coal mines to its south, as barges,
>> >trucks and trains loaded with the black
>> >fuel continually chugged into and past
>> >the city. There were plenty of
>> >manufacturing jobs in the chemical
>> >industry and in glassworks, steel and
>> >locomotive parts. Nearly 90,000 people
>> >lived in the city in 1950.
>>
>> >The traditional diet was heavy with
>> >fried foods, salt, gravy, sauces, and
>> >fattier meats - dense with calories
>> >burnt off through manual labor. Obesity
>> >was not a worry then. Workplace injuries
>> >were.
>>
>> >But as the coal industry modernized and
>> >the economy changed, manufacturing jobs
>> >left. The city's population is now fewer
>> >than 50,000, and chronic diseases - many
>> >of them connected to obesity - seem much
>> >more common.
>>
>> >Shari Wiley is a nurse at St. Mary's
>> >Regional Heart Institute in Huntington.
>> >She runs a program that identifies heavy
>> >school children and tries to teach them
>> >better eating and exercise habits. The
>> >effort began because of an alarming trend.
>>
>> >"A lot of the patients we were seeing
>> >were getting heart attacks in their 30s.
>> >They were requiring open heart surgery in
>> >their 30s. And we were concerned because
>> >it used to be you wouldn't see heart
>> >patients come in until they were in their
>> >50s," Wiley said.
>>
>> >The Huntington area's essentially tied with
>> >a few other metro areas for proportion of
>> >people who don't exercise (31 percent),
>> >have heart disease (22 percent) and
>> >diabetes (13 percent). The smoking rate
>> >is pretty high, too, although not the worst.
>>
>> >However, the region is a clear-cut leader
>> >in dental problems, with nearly half the
>> >people age 65 and older saying they have
>> >lost all their natural teeth. And no other
>> >metro area comes close to Huntington's
>> >adult obesity rate, according to the report
>> >by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
>> >Prevention, based on data from 2006.
>>
>> >Perhaps fittingly, hospitals are now
>> >Huntington's largest employers. Another
>> >is Marshall University, home of the
>> >"Thundering Herd" football team depicted
>> >in the 2006 film "We Are Marshall" which
>> >dominates local sports conversations.
>>
>> >The river runs along the edge of town,
>> >but it's not a focal point. Marshall and
>> >one of the city's remaining factories sit
>> >to the east with several blocks of hotels
>> >and office buildings farther west. A new
>> >complex called Pullman Square - which
>> >includes a movie theater and a Starbucks -
>> >is trying to become a retail and dining
>> >center and illustrates a transition to a
>> >service economy.
>>
>> >The area's unemployment rate was about
>> >5 percent in September, actually a bit
>> >better than the 6.1 percent national
>> >average that month. But often the jobs
>> >are not high-paying. Many workers lack
>> >health insurance, and corporate wellness
>> >programs - common at large national
>> >companies - are rare.
>>
>> >Poverty hovers, with the area rate at
>> >19 percent, much higher than the national
>> >average. In the hilly coal fields to the
>> >South, people still live in houses or
>> >trailers with drooping, battered roofs.
>> >They stare hard at any stranger in a new
>> >car. In Huntington and its outskirts,
>> >many people think of exercise and healthy
>> >eating as luxuries.
>>
>> >The economy needs to pick up "so people
>> >can afford to get healthy," said Ronnie
>> >Adkins, 67, a retired policeman, as he
>> >sat one recent morning on the smoking
>> >porch of the Jolly Pirate Donuts shop
>> >on U.S. 60.
>>
>> >Doughnut shops don't help either, of course.
>> >But breakfast pastry shops aren't the most
>> >common outlets for fatty food. Pizza joints
>> >are. They are seemingly on every block in
>> >some parts of the city. The online Yellow
>> >Pages lists more pizza places (nearly 200)
>> >for the Huntington area than the entire
>> >state of West Virginia has gyms and health
>> >clubs (149).
>>
>> >Hot dog places also abound, with the city
>> >hosting an annual hot dog festival every
>> >summer. "I've never seen so many places
>> >that are hot dog oriented. I guess it's
>> >a cultural thing. Appalachian," said Mayor
>> >Felinton, who grew up in Maryland and moved
>> >to Huntington to attend Marshall University
>> >and stayed put.
>>
>> >Fast food has become a staple, with many
>> >residents convinced they can't afford to
>> >buy healthier foods, said Keri Kennedy,
>> >manager of the state health department's
>> >Office of Healthy Lifestyles.
>>
>> >Kennedy said she'd just seen a commercial
>> >that presented "The KFC $10 Challenge."
>> >The fried-chicken chain placed a family
>> >in a grocery store and challenged them to
>> >put together a dinner for $10 or less that
>> >was comparable to KFC's seven-piece, $9.99
>> >value meal.
>>
>> >"This is what we're up agin'," said Kennedy,
>> >noting it's an extremely persuasive ad for
>> >a low-income family that is accustomed to
>> >fried foods. "I dunno whatcha do t' counter't."
>>
>> >Lack of exercise is another concern. During
>> >a warm and sunny autumn week in Huntington -
>> >the kind of weather that would bring out
>> >small armies of joggers in some cities -
>> >it was unusual to see a runner or bicyclist.
>> >The exercise that does occur is mostly
>> >confined to a local YMCA, at campus
>> >recreation facilities at Marshall, or at
>> >Ritter Park in a tony neighborhood south
>> >of downtown.
>>
>> >Some attribute the problem to crumbling
>> >sidewalks in the city & a lack of walkways
>> >along busy rural roads. Others blame it on
>> >lack of motivation, as well as a cultural
>> >attitude that never included exercise for
>> >health.
>>
>> >There's a connection between education &
>> >lack of exercise, 2, said Dr. T. Dannals,
>> >a Huntington family physician.
>>
>> >"The undereducated don't know the value
>> >of it. They don't have the drive for it.
>> >There's a reason you're successful, you've
>> >got drive. The same is true for exercise,"
>> >said Dannals.
>>
>> >Dannals has been trying to change cultural
>> >attitudes. The local newspaper has called
>> >him "an exercise evangelist" for founding
>> >the city's triathlon, marathon and other
>> >projects designed to make exercise popular
>> >and fun. He's also spearheading a riverfront
>> >exercise trail project, called the Paul
>> >Ambrose Trail for Health (PATH).
>>
>> >Ambrose was a Huntington physician who died
>> >in the Sept. 11, 2001, jet that crashed
>> >into the Pentagon. Just before he died,
>> >he had been working on a U.S. Surgeon
>> >General report on obesity, and was on the
>> >plane that morning to attend an adolescent
>> >obesity conference in Los Angeles.
>>
>> >But the PATH project, first proposed more
>> >than a year ago, has yet to win the
>> >necessary funding. The lack of support
>> >is not surprising: Dannals can't even get
>> >a company to sponsor the Huntington marathon.
>>
>> >Local politicians tend to be equally tepid
>> >about improving health, said Dr. Harry Tweel,
>> >director of the Cabell-Huntington Health
>> >Department.
>>
>> >Smoking - a common sin in West Virginia -
>> >has been hard to control, Tweel said. When
>> >the health department tried to restrict
>> >smoking in local bars and restaurants, a
>> >group of local businesses fought it all
>> >the way to the state Supreme Court. (The
>> >restrictions were upheld in 2003.) Even
>> >hospitals have fought smoking restrictions
>> >in the past, Tweel said.
>>
>> >Other communities have taken more ambitious
>> >steps to control the amount of fat in local
>> >restaurant food. In July, the Los Angeles
>> >City Council placed a moratorium on new fast
>> >food restaurants in an impoverished area of
>> >the city with above-average rates of obesity.
>> >In 2006, New York City became the first U.S.
>> >city to ban artificial trans fats in
>> >restaurant foods. Other cities are
>> >considering similar measures.
>>
>> >Forget it, Tweel said. Not in Huntington.
>>
>> >"You're mentioning areas (of the country)
>> >that are well beyond this local region in
>> >accepting that kind of change," said Tweel.
>>
>> >"People here have an attitude of 'You're
>> >not going to tell me what I can eat.' The
>> >cultural attitude is 'My parents ate that
>> >and my grandparents ate that,'" he said.
>>
>> >Mayor Felinton echoed Tweel. Felinton
>> >had stomach surgery last- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -...
>>
>> read more »
>
>Sounds EXACTLY like where I live in Kentucky, especially the attitude part.
>I've never seen so many people with bellies that slap their thighs, and the
>saddest thing is you see their kids, still in grade school, already wheezing
>from their weight.
>:(
>
I think the morbidly obese should be denied medical benefits unless
they demonstrate that they are on a serious weigth loss program.
Overall, negroes and hispanics have worst stats nationwide.
ted
Support our troops, O5 and below. SeaWoe
>
> - Show quoted text -
In GB, under the NHS regulations, those who mistreat their bodies like
that do not get on the
waiting list for transplants until they show some interest in helping
themself..
I wish it was like that with our government versions of NHS.
Would you want a fat slob to get one if you needed it but he was ahead
of you?
mensah...@gmail.com
Guys there is something that keep going on in my mind. Have we asked
ourselves what some of the hinderances are for this people who are not
execising enough?
Is laziness? Is the equipments that are not available? Are their
street blocked that they cant jogg? If we are able to get answers to
these question, we will be able to make a positive impact in the lifes
of the obesity society.
God is Good.