I read the following article this morning and after spending most of my life except for the last two years in North Carolina or the few years in Hartford, CT, it is now proven that Southeastern CT is not a healthy place to live.

Especially, during the cold long winter where do you go just to get out? A bar, or a coffee house, which serves legal stimulates and people smoke when they drink alcohol and coffee, in CT unfortunately, you can not smoke inside the building so you stand outside the door, so whenever anyone comes inside 9 times out of 10 they have to walk through smoke. I have no idea what the answer is, but since I now work out everyday and with the weather being so nice, it is wonderful to get up and feel better about myself. What should New London County do to make people healthier? I did see somewhere that a town in the Midwest the Mayor made it everyone's cause to get health and went out of their way to get everyone involved, do you think it might work in all the communities in Southeastern CT, maybe get them out of the Casino's or better yet get the Casino's to offer a $$ price to a Team/Individual to lose weight and get in better health. They have all that money, and they contribute to people being in trouble financially, before the casinos how many little old ladies did you hear about embezelling money from their town to gamble?

I do not think there is only a few things contributing to bad health, alot of it comes down to mental health, if you are depressed how do you get motivated to work on yourself? Believe me the winters are the worst , I also noticed it talks about sucides, most likely during the winter because you wait for May to come to start going outside and enjoying life again, you hibernate from November- May, what a way to live.

This article was in the New London Day today:

"We smoke too much, we drink too much, we are too fat and we have a strong propensity to sit on our duffs, according to the first-ever “community health assessment” of New London County.
Highlights (or lowlights) of the survey were released Thursday at a conference at Mohegan Sun attended by several hundred health-care professionals.
The conference, conducted by the Center for Health Policy, Planning and Research of the University of New England at the behest of the Community Health Access Management Program, was meant to be a starting point for the region to address its health-care needs.
“Without understanding the lay of the land, we can't move forward,” said Ronald D. Deprez, executive director of the center, who oversaw the study. “Unfortunately, in this country we don't do enough health planning.”
Susan B. Peters, CEO for outpatient services at United Community & Family Services, Inc., who chaired the conference, agreed.
“Today is just the tip of the iceberg and the beginning of the solution,” Peters said. “Today marks the beginning of our journey. To use the MapQuest analogy, this study is the starting address of our trip.”
The survey looked at risk factors to the health of the people of New London County, their access to health care, their overall wellness and the incidence of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, mental illness and several infectious diseases.
Among other things, the researchers found:
• Nearly a quarter of New London County residents smoke, compared to 16.5 percent of residents statewide.
• Twenty-four percent of the region's residents are obese, compared to just over 20 percent statewide.
• Almost 6 percent of residents, compared to 3.5 percent statewide, engage in chronic heavy drinking.
• Just under 22 percent have a sedentary lifestyle, about the same as the statewide percentage.
All of these behaviors increase the risk of residents' succumbing to chronic diseases.
“Policies and programs to improve nutrition and exercise, and prevent or treat tobacco use, are essential to achieving better health and reducing health costs in these communities,” Deprez said.
The survey also looked at different groupings of communities within New London County, which, not surprisingly, revealed different health issues in the cities of Norwich and New London from those found in their wealthier suburbs and such rural communities as Bozrah.
For example:
• Groton has the highest rate — 6.8 percent — of chronic heavy drinking.
• Nearly 30 percent of Norwich residents smoke, and that city has the highest rate — 5.8 percent — of heart disease.
• More than 28 percent of residents in the so-called mill towns of Griswold, Lisbon, Montville, Sprague and Stonington are obese, and residents of those towns have the highest percentage — 30.4 percent — of diagnoses of high cholesterol.
• New London and Norwich adults have the highest rates of asthma: 11 percent and 16.2 percent, respectively.
• The prevalence of adult diabetes in New London County is 33 percent higher than its prevalence statewide.
• The incidence of cancer in New London County is similar to the state rate, but Lyme and Old Lyme have a 50 percent higher incidence rate.
• The county suicide rate is higher than the state — 12.8 per 100,000 compared to 7.8 per 100,000 — and is particularly high — 18.1 per 100,000 — in the rural towns of Bozrah, Colchester, East Lyme, Franklin, Lebanon, Ledyard, North Stonington, Preston, Salem and Voluntown.
The report also examined access to health care and found that 11 percent of county residents were uninsured, that just over 21 percent had no regular source of medical care, and that 12 percent had not had a checkup in the past two years.
Deprez urged those attending the conference to use the study and coordinate their efforts to meet the health needs of the region.
“The work really starts after you leave. And so it's nice to see you all here today, but hopefully you'll take this forward,” he said. “Unless you take this forward, you've wasted your time, and you've wasted your money on us.”
Among other things Deprez suggested the area focus on were better employee-health programs and better safety-net services. But, he said, “You have to build a primary-care system that fosters and promotes patient self-management. We have to educate patients about their medications, educate patients about what is expected of them and how to report problems that they have.”
The survey made use of data from the state Department of Public Health, the Connecticut Hospital Association, the U.S. Census and a random-sample telephone survey of 1,300 county residents.
The survey results released Thursday can be viewed online at www.ledgelighthd.org.
The full report will be released May 11.
k.robinson@theday.com