"Retiring County Public Health Leader Reflects on H1N1, Childhood Obesity" by News Blog

News Blog

Retiring County Public Health Leader Reflects on H1N1, Childhood Obesity

June 5, 2012

In his 42-year career, Dr. Hugh Stallworth says he's never seen anything like the childhood obesity and diabetes epidemic. And as he prepares to retire June 15, he's seen just about everything, from flu to tuberculosis to West Nile virus.

After eight years leading the Monterey County Health Department, Stallworth announced his retirement Monday. Deputy Health Officer Lisa Hernandez will take over as interim, then plans to apply to be the next county health officer, which Stallworth says leaves the department—and the public—in good hands.

"I’ve been mentoring her," he says. "She has been in the trenches with me. She’s no novice; she’s going to hit the ground running."

One of Stallworth's proudest accomplishments is handling the H1N1 flu outbreak without panic. "We resisted the fear and used science to drive what we needed to do. In Monterey County, we didn’t close one school, yet didn’t suffer any disproportionate illness or death," he says.

He's also proud of improving stakeholder relationships, particularly with the media. "The media is critical in getting information out to the public," he says. "The media has helped me inform, not alarm."

Stallworth says his successor's most challenging public health issue will be one that's facing the entire nation: childhood obesity. "We see 11-, 12-year-old kids with Type II diabetes, something we never even conceived of before," he says. "That’s not going to go away.

"It’s go to have to be an entire community effort. If we don’t solve that one, the prediction is this is the first generation where parents might outlive their kids. That’s one of my greatest concerns."

Stallworth's overseen county response to outbreaks, as well as strategies for addressing chronic health issues like smoking and obesity, as well as managing ongoing monitoring programs such as bacteria counts at popular beaches.

Want to help get more kids moving? See Children and Teens section at BicyclingMonterey.com AKA BikeMonterey.org. You'll find info on the following, and more:

Kids biking to school--and how to make it safer for Monterey County kids; bicycle culture and youth--and why some kids stop biking; Salinas youth and others for bikes--and how bikes make life better; children learning to be streetwise in Carmel, and practicing skills on the off-road path at Castroville and elsewhere; May presentation at a Soledad elementary school by Safe Routes to School advocates; how kids 18 and younger can use $38 and a bike to get around all summer; the only high school bicycling team in the county; need for bike tech education for Monterey County youth--and its first beginnings here; League of American Bicyclists instructor, NPS Cycling Club members, Forest Hill Bike Shop owner, and others who volunteer teach kids bike safety and other skills; MORCA's Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day--and how MORCA, NPS Cycling Club, and Velo Club Monterey all advocate for better bicycle infrastructure.

You may see club members zipping by in jerseys and think they may not be tuned in to needs of local children. For most, nothing could be further from the truth. Advocates from local bike clubs help improve bike infrastructure because they know that it’s essential in making it safer for kids and others to bike here. And you can advocate for better infrastructure too!

Safety? Don't overlook "California Bicycle Laws and Personal Safety--with Tips for Kids" section of Tips for Bicycling Monterey County guide.

There's a Spanish language bicycling resources section too, which includes fitting helmets (required by CA law for people under 18), tips for teaching kids to bike safely, and more. Bike laws? They aren’t on DMV website in Spanish, but a summary is provided in Spanish at Bicycling Monterey.

Want to help get more kids moving? Dive in, and make use of Bicycling Monterey resources. Although Monterey County doesn't have a bicycle coalition yet, we certainly have a bike community! See leaders under Bicycling Monterey's "Resources" tab.

Volunteers of time, and financial contributions too, are needed to help maintain and expand these resources. Help keep not only kids but bike advocates moving by sharing the work of local bike advocacy.

Computer techies, Spanish translators, school outreach help, and other volunteers are needed. For more details, see the Bicycling Monterey website, where you'll find full contact info.

Bicycling Monterey was created by a local resident and business owner (Fine Wordworking) out of love for biking and this county of residence since 1981. Bicycling Monterey is in its fourth year, and its resources and projects are a public service.

Check it out and see how you can support kids in boosting personal health--and planetary health--by making make use of their own pedaling power.

One community effort necessary to halt this sad health trend is to continue prioritizing walking and biking as a transportation option. There is a commonly held mistaken belief that our economy suffers if people cannot drive nearly everywhere.

While driving has its place, Monterey County's economy benefits greatly by its increasing reputation as a terrific place to walk and bike. There is likewise much evidence nationwide supporting the fact that bicycling has big benefits to the economy. This includes benefits to many areas of the economy, not just such areas as bike shops. (For bicycle retail stores, in our local congressional district, such shops had $27,590,000 gross annual income, as reported in 2013 by the League of American Bicyclists.)

Next, consider the recommendation of the City of Monterey's consultants to open up the Alvarado Mall and Custom House Plaza to motor vehicle traffic. Then consider the many benefits of walking and biking (in addition to personal health and economic benefits). http://marilynch.com/blog/tips-for-tourists/why-bike

Finally, ask whether all these benefits of walking and biking are being given sufficient priority by this aspect (re Alvarado Mall and Custom House Plaza) of a City of Monterey plan that is otherwise heading in the right direction.

See http://marilynch.com/blog/enjoy-the-open-space-of-montereys-custom-house-plaza-californias-historic-landmark-1-so-do-they.html to learn more.