Agenda 04-01-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Attachment 5: BOCC /BOH Joint 04/01/04 FINAL DRAFT mental health services due to statewide reform, there was great concern expressed about mental health in Orange County. The Voices for Adolescents Committee of Healthy Carolinians is working on a collaborative effort with the school systems, mental health agency and other community agencies to improve mental health services for adolescents. 0 Access to dental health services for low- income populations. Although also a celebration in that Orange County has positive preventive indicators, the limited access to dental health services for low - income populations was ranked as the fifth most important health issue. The high cost of dental care makes it virtually unaffordable for those families with middle incomes who do not have dental insurance. Increasingly high dental insurance premiums, high co -pays and deductibles are also making it difficult for families to get dental care. Finding a provider that will accept Medicaid is also an issue. • Degrading air quality. Finally, the community has concern over the quality of the air we breath. Though many mentioned the beauty of living in Orange County, the quiet and green spaces, they also lamented the traffic and problems with ozone and air pollution. Due to the crisscrossing of the county by interstate highways 40 and 85 and a high level of commuter traffic due partly to economic factors, the air quality of the county has become worse over the past few years. • High cancer rates. Cancer was the leading cause of death in the County from 1999 -2001. The overall death rate attributable to cancer is 213.5 per 100,000 in Orange County. Numbers of people with lung, breast, colon, and prostate cancers are all high. And the breast cancer incidence in Orange County was the highest in the state over the five -year period from 1996 -2000. There are also large disparities in the death rates between minority residents and their white counterparts with minorities experiencing more than twice the rates of colon and prostate cancer as whites. While cancers may not be totally preventable, early screening and detection can often lead to improved health through early treatment. A healthy lifestyle can also help reduce the risk of some forms of cancer. (maybe use a graph here ?) "Rising rates of cancer are a huge problem and they come from diet and smoking. " Health care provider 0 High rates of reported and substantiated child abuse and neglect. Orange County is ranked 51" among the 100 counties in the number of child abuse investigations per 1,000 children. Reports of child abuse and neglect have increased over the last four years. It is hard to determine whether this represents an increase in actual abuse or reflects a growing community awareness resulting in more reports. Regardless, this is of concern, since child abuse has long -term effects on children and families and