Working for Your Health: Vineyard youth

How can we understand the health of Vineyard youth?

Most of us have an idea of what “being healthy” means to us. Not being sick, being able to do the things I want to do, having energy are a few of the things we might say. When it comes to our children and our perspective on what is “good health,” we might add some other descriptors. “Susie is growing well.” “Billy seems happy.” 

While our subjective observations and feelings are important, effective public health policy requires a more rigorous approach. Fortunately, we do have some scientifically rigorous data about our community that can inform us. The County Health Rankings and Roadmaps (countyhealthrankings.org/health-data) describes important measures of health in our community. It is online, easy to use, and allows comparisons with other communities. One can compare our community (Dukes County) to Boston, to Nantucket, and any other county in the U.S. To answer important public health questions about our youth, we need data that we can have confidence in. The County Health Rankings use measures that have been defined in ways that make them reliable. 

Here are some highlights from the County Health Rankings that you might find interesting — some surprising and some not.

  • Overall, the measured health of our county is about average for counties in Massachusetts; however, we perform better than the average for the U.S.
  • Our county performs worse on many factors that influence health compared with other counties in Massachusetts; yet again, we are better than the average county in the country.
  • Our primary care providers provide care for many more people than those in other counties. A practical way to interpret this statistic is that we have too few.
  • Twenty-three percent of the members of our community report “severe housing problems.” This is much higher than the state and national average.
  • Ten percent of our children live below the poverty level — bad, but better than the average for the state and nation.
  • Ninety-five percent of our high school students graduate.

While these data might be interesting, they leave many questions about our young people and the community in which they live unanswered. The county rankings statistics come from national surveys. Some of these surveys are out-of-date, and consequently less helpful. The small size of our population also limits the usefulness of many surveys. The measurement of uncommon events in a small community is statistically unreliable, and can invade privacy. 

We do have other measures that provide us with information that is closer to home. The Martha’s Vineyard Commission has published a statistical profile online (bit.ly/MVC_StatisticalProfile) that provides information about many aspects of Vineyard life. While not focused on the health issues of young people, this overview gives an excellent view of our community, our government, and our environment. The health of our community is an important determinant of our individual health. 

In addition, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital conducts a Community Needs Survey every three years. It is available online (bit.ly/MVH_AboutUs).

Martha’s Vineyard Youth Task Force (mvyouthtaskforce.org/copy-of-initiatives) provides a focused look at the specific issues of tobacco use, substance use, and coercive behavior and violence. The Youth Task Force has published assessments every several years of risky behaviors. Information like this can inform administrators, teachers, parents, and students about the effectiveness of efforts to keep young people healthy and drug-free. 

Nonetheless, when we look at all this information through the lens of youth development, we still get an incomplete image. Much of the information that we have lacks a focus on youth. We know less than we think, and less than we should.

However, there is good news. Our community cares for one another. As a result, we have a large number of nonprofit organizations that focus on a variety of issues. Many of these issues affect the health of the Island’s young people. All these organizations, whether through formal surveys, the compilation of statistics, or simply through their work, have information about our community, including about our young people and their health. As one of its roles, the Dukes County Health Council brings organizations together. By sharing information and discussing initiatives, our community becomes more informed. The Health Information Committee of the Health Council is working to facilitate this information sharing. The committee has developed a website, dchcmv.com/community-data-sharing-library, as an online repository for shared information about health to make access to important health-related data easier for everyone. 

What can you do as a resident of the Vineyard to help support the health of our young people? The first and most important thing is to be informed. Check out the websites listed in this article. Consider attending a Dukes County Health Council meeting. They are held monthly on Zoom at 7:30 am on the third Thursday of the month. Anyone is welcome to attend. (The web link is available by contacting Bob Laskowski at laskowskiadvisors@gmail.com. Finally, your observations matter. Share your observations with others, especially community leaders and health professionals. Your insights can make our community healthier for all, especially for our youth.

Kim Garrison is the behavioral health coordinator and research specialist at Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools. Robert Laskowski, MD, is chair of the board of directors of Healthy Aging MV.