Preventive Care
Information is power to think and to guide one’s choices. The resources included in the pages of links are to help Tillamook County communities, individuals, and families access resources on how to live healthy. These links can also be of use to students doing research and making choices for prevention.
Public health is everyone’s business. From preconception to death, public health priorities are important for preventing the spread of disease, maximizing the possibilities for populations and individuals to live long, quality lives. The resources listed were carefully reviewed before posting. While reputable public health sources are listed and best practices in prevention advocated, some differences of opinion exist.
Consumers need to study and make choices for themselves about best practices for their own lives. Tillamook County communities aim to create environments where healthy choices are the natural choices a child learns growing up and adults make as they age. The Tillamook County Community Health Centers is a resource to help create environments for healthy community norms.
Health Organizations Working Together
Key partners in public health work are included here from a local to a global level.
- Tillamook Family Counseling
- Adventist Health Tillamook
- Tillamook Commission on Children and Families
- Oregon Public Health Division
- U.S.P.H.S. Centers for Disease Control
- World Health Organization
- National Institute of Drug Abuse
- National Heart Lung and Blood
“Healthful” Living and “Wellness”
The primary goal of this site is to help you live healthfully and well. Prevention is usually much better than cure. Healthy communities and individuals make choices that over the long run lead to happy, longer, and fulfilling experiences individually and collectively. The basics are simple. The websites below the headings are links to valuable, useful information for this focus on health.
Chronic Diseases Prevention
Tobacco use is a chronic disease that begins in youth. Ninety percent of smokers start before finishing high school. Nicotine is as powerful and addictive as another opiate, heroin. After a period of experimentation and usage, the “pediatric” disease phase begins and continues, often for life. But millions have and will quit.
These sites are useful for those thinking about quitting:
For those interested in the global tobacco epidemic and its effect on the US and Oregon, many sites are available at these links:
- WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 – The MPOWER package
- CDC Data & Statistics
- Oregon Tobacco Facts
International news on tobacco prevention, use, and control work is available at Tobacco.org
Tillamook County Tobacco Facts 2009
For those interested in becoming a partner in tobacco/chronic disease prevention, education, and advocacy in Tillamook County, email Tillamook County Health department: Jim Becraft
Addictive Prevention and Management
Basic information about the process of addiction is available here:
Alcohol
Information on alcohol and addictive drugs is located here:
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
- Wikipedia Article: Alcoholism
- Partnership for a Drug-Free America: Alcohol
Information for families, individuals, and youth dealing with alcohol as a problem may benefit from these websites.
Questions about the law and underage alcohol use in Oregon may be located here:
Methamphetamines
Information on methamphetamine addiction and assistance to deal with addiction may be located here:
Heroin
Help and information on heroin abuse is located at this site.
Prescription Drug Addiction
Nutritious Food in Moderation
- Nutrition.gov
- Food Pyramid
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics eatright.org
- Nutrition Resources for Health Professionals
- Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention
- OSU’s North Coast Food Guide
Adequate Physical Exercise
First there is walking and fidgeting and moving at the bus stop or in the grocery line, to just keeping moving and stretching. It all makes a difference in fitness. The human being was made to move and rest intermittently – at least every five minutes.
- Centers for Disease Control Introduction to Physical Activity
- CDC Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity
- Wikipedia Article: Exercise Physiology
- Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention
- Physical Activity Guidelines for Everyone
- Tillamook County Family YMCA
Mental and Social Health
- Wikipedia Article: The Human Brain
- Wikipedia Article: The Mind – Creating a human mind is the work of the human brain. This website is an interesting contrast. Developing the mind is a life work.
- Wikipedia Article: Social Determinants of Health – Many organizations in Tillamook County are critical for helping build a foundation for social health. The effectiveness of these organizations and Tillamook County communities is based on the pursuit of effective human relations.
- Tillamook Family Counseling
Disaster Prevention/Preparation
Information for you to use in preparing your home for flooding, fire, earthquake, and natural disasters.
Safety in the Home, Workplace, and in Recreation
Safety first. Everybody. Everywhere. All the time. All of us.
A full range of safety considerations for the home are included here.
For the workplace:
Adequate Rest/Sleep
Dealing with insomnia, how to sleep well is a challenge of many. Some sleep too much. The National Sleep Foundation provides facts and counteracts myths about sleep.
Environmental and Food Supply Protection
The Centers for Disease Control’s environmental health portal is a basic gateway for information on environmental health and food supply protection.
- CDC National Center for Environmental Health
- State of Oregon Office of Environmental Public Health
- Tillamook County Environmental Health
Immunizations/Communicable Disease
The U.S.P.H.S. centers for Disease Control is the definitive source of information, schedules, and standards of immunizations.
State of Oregon immunization requirements, recommendations, and schedules are available at the Division of Public Health. Information about shots for international travel is also available.
Disease Management/Prevention
Preventing Diseases, Disability, and Death
The Tillamook County Community Health Centers also zeroes in on disease management. Below are resources to both help manage or prevent the chronic diseases that disable and kill millions of Americans, including large numbers of Tillamook County residents.
Many casual factors are involved with these chronic diseases. Some are preventable. Some are not. Often chronic diseases can be prevented and/or managed more effectively if specific lifestyle choices are made.
The best choice one can make to prevent chronic disease is to quit or to never begin using tobacco products. Tobacco is related to the key chronic diseases killing Americans. While it is not the only casual factor involved, it plays a huge role in negative health outcomes.