A survey of voters in rural California counties, including Mendocino, found broad agreement that obesity is a major problem and strong support for community action to prevent obesity and related chronic diseases.  

The survey found that 85 percent of Mendocino voters describe obesity as a “serious problem,” and 85 percent agree that the neighborhoods where people live affect their risk for obesity.

“Local data collected from recent health information surveys show that 56 percent of Mendocino adults and 43 percent of its children and teens are either obese or overweight, so it’s not surprising that community concern about obesity is so high,” said Colleen Schenck, program administrator with Mendocino County Public Health Services.

The 12 rural California counties included in the survey are part of the CA4Health Community Transformation Grant initiative funded by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Public Health Institute.

Mendocino County was awarded $1.2 million over five years under CA4Health to implement proven strategies aimed at improving the health and well being of those living and working in the county.

Other participating counties include Calaveras, Humboldt, Imperial, Madera, Merced, Monterey, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Tulare and Tuolumne.

The survey found that Mendocino County residents strongly support a community-wide approach to preventing obesity, seeing roles for health care providers (92 percent), community and civic organizations (78 percent), local schools (95 percent), food retailers (82 percent), restaurants (76 percent), churches and other faith-based organizations (70 percent), employers (71 percent) and local government (79 percent).

The poll also highlighted strong support for community actions intended to reduce consumption of soda and other sugary drinks, such as strengthening school nutrition standards to limit the sale of unhealthy foods and drinks (74 percent) and improving access to fresh drinking water in parks, schools, and public buildings (89 percent).

According to the survey, an overwhelming majority of Mendocino County residents recognize that the added sugar in sugary beverages increases a person’s chances of becoming overweight and obese (92 percent), developing Type 2 diabetes (88 percent), high blood pressure (79 percent), and heart disease (78 percent).

“These poll results show that we are on the right path with the local efforts already underway with the support of our Community Transformation Grant funding,” said Schenck.

“Residents are seeing the value of different sectors working together to create a healthier community,” she said. “That’s why we’re working closely with schools, community organizations, businesses and other leaders to achieve goals like making it easier and safer for our kids to walk or bike to school and encouraging them to choose water instead of soda and other sugar-filled beverages. When healthier options are readily available, people can make healthier choices for themselves and their families.”

The Mendocino County poll also found strong local support for the roles that Community Health Workers can play to help people manage chronic diseases and their risk factors, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Community Health Workers are individuals specially trained to provide the information and skills people need to better manage their own health.

According to the survey, 96 percent of Mendocino County residents believe community health workers would be valuable in teaching people how to manage and monitor their medical conditions, be physically active and eat healthier, take their medication properly, and improve communications with doctors and other health care providers.

According to the poll, Mendocino County residents strongly support covering the services provided by Community Health Workers through private health plans (94 percent), Medicare (99 percent) and Medi-Cal (96 percent).

The 12-county sample size was 1,810, approximately 150 interviews per county. Surveys were conducted via telephone (both landline and cellular phones), among representative samples of registered voters. Surveys were completed between Aug. 3 and Aug. 19, 2012.