LEDGER – The State of the County Health Report, or SOTCH, for Mitchell County revealed the efforts Toe River Health District made to address specific health concerns.
The primary areas of focus were substance abuse prevention, increased access to mental health services, healthy living behaviors, chronic disease prevention and access to healthcare.
Toe River Health District Director Diane Creek said the health report is critical in tracking the progress of health initiatives and revealing areas they need to focus their attention.
One of the more successful initiatives from 2019 was combating substance abuse. Creek noted the health district’s partnership with Partner’s Aligned Toward Health, or PATH, and its program Mitchell-Yancey Substance Abuse Task Force had a lot to do with their progress. The Needle Exchange Program and the Youth to Youth, or Y2Y, program to prevent tobacco use, have been some of the more successful aspects.
“A lot of people become substance abusers after they have surgery and use their pain medication to help with their discomfort,” Creek said. “An initiative that we really like and want to work harder on is Drug Take-Back Day, where people dispose of their outdated and unused prescription drugs.”
Creek said the less successful initiatives were promoting healthy living behaviors and chronic disease prevention because such habits are hard to break.
“It’s incredibly tough to change a person’s behavior when they’ve been stuck in a habit for most of their life,” she said.
Creek also said access to an affordable YMCA could have a substantial effect on healthy living behaviors.
When it comes to accomplishing initiatives that made little to no progress this past year, such as eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke and promoting quitting tobacco use, Creek said ideas and plans are in place to advance these ideas with the Y2Y group.
Creek said some projects might now be forced to the backburner.
“The coronavirus is taking up every minute of our time,” she said. “It’s huge and intense, and it has to take priority over everything.”