State of the County Health Report 2005 Robert Williams Geog 370 Rockingham County State of the County Health Report 2005 Robert Williams Geog 370

In the counties of Wake and Rockingham is there a correlation between sexual health and socioeconomic status , education, and urbanization among the Latino community? Rockingham County Within our group two people have been charged with doing reasearch for Wake and two for Rockingham county. This presentation focuses on the Rocking ham county. Statistics: Population: 91,928 Latino Population: 2,825 (appx 3%) Land Area: 566 square miles Pop Density: 164 per square mile Major Cities: Reidsville & Eden Average Wage: $27, 500 Unemployment: appx 7.5% Education: appx 11% of people over 25 with bachelors degree

Hypothesis -- There is a correlation between sexual health and socioeconomic status, education and sexual health. In the more rural Rockingham county there will be poor overall sexual health in comparison with the more urban Wake county.

The County Report The county health report is based on five areas Ability to attain basic needs Lack of preventitaive measures Overweight/Obesity Access to health care Unemployment

Results and Methods Ability to attain basic needs There has been an increase in the needs of the county. This is due to income and transportation. The county has added an additional Public Health Nurse to cope with rising needs. Lack of Preventative Measures 82% of children are immunized each year this is above the state average of 65%. Infant moratality is above the state average(3 per 1,000) at 9 per 1,000 births. Programs have been implemented in order to educate pregnant mother about lifestyle and resulting birth complications (smoking cesssation, alcohol consumption, etc).

Ability to Obtain Basic Needs Unemployment The percent of unemployed has steadily decreased over the past several years. There has been a rise in jobs in the county and more have pledged in the industrial and retail sectors. Overweight/Obesity As with the nation, this is an issue for the county as well. Currently they are collecting data on this subject to make improvements in education on this subject. Some work sites already have a county program in place, Wellness Works. This encourages changes in policies and enviornment in the workplace. Ability to Obtain Basic Needs This includes food, shelter, clothing, and clean water. This area could use improvement as there has been a rise in request for government services such as WIC. Clean water has been an issue as well due to flooding and access to wells.

Methods of Data Collection Primary and Secondary Documents used for the report For the primary data, surveys were conducted of 458 county residents and focus groups The secondary sources came from pre-exisisting data from hospitals and local agencies.

Conclusions This source is very relevant for our research. It touches on the various factors we are looking at in Rockingham County. The data and methods are reliable and well documented. Their sources can be used for a more in depth analysis of each of the different views.