Gambling targeted at Board of Health

Oct. 14--According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, between 3 and 5 percent of all Americans who gamble regularly have a major gambling addiction.

A prevention specialist from a Des Moines-area firm came to Thursday's monthly Jasper CountyBoard of Health meeting to address this topic.

Susan O'Brien of Employee and Family Resources brought along a few visual aids related to gambling addiction when she made a brief presentation at the meeting. She also outlined some of the age-specific curriculums that target certain age groups in spreading awareness about gambling addiction and treatment.

"The target age group, really, is from 18 to 49," O'Brien said. "But we do have some curriculum that's geared toward middle schoolers called 'Wanna bet?'. Our goal is to maintain both community readiness and continue collaboration with organizations in Jasper County and all throughout our region."

As many as 750,000 young people, age 14 to 21 has a gambling addiction.

O'Brien also distributed a self-assesment for gambling addiction called the Brief Biosocial Gambling Screen. The three-item survey is designed to help people decide on their own whether to seek a formal evaluation of their gambling behavior and is based on the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IV manual criteria for pathological gambling.

Jasper County Health Department Administrator Becky Pryor said she's grateful to have the information and materials provided by EMF to help her department educate the public about specialized problems like gambling addiction.

"This is a great resource for us to have," she said.

Also at Thursday's meeting, the board:

-- Heard from Pryor about a number of compliance reviews, including one that had zero findings and another that had only documentation findings. She also praised the work of University of Iowa students, especially for their work on a project where toothbrushes will be distributed during the City of Newton's upcoming Halloween Trick or Treat Night.

-- Went into a closed session with Pryor toward the end of the meeting to discuss a personnel matter. The closed session was not on the meeting agenda.

-- Heard from a second representative of EFR, Emily Marble, who talked about substance abuse education. Survey data to be collected during the final months of 2016 about marijuana will be used to devise programming for 2017. She also described an afterschool program at Berg Middle School.

-- Heard a monthly report from Home Care Manager Brenda Steenhoek. She mentioned a dog-bite situation involving a home health care aide. Steenhoek said a decision was made to no longer serve that particular client. The dog has since bitten another person since the attack and has been vaccinated and home-quarantined. The aide has also begun prophylactic anti-rabies shots as well. Veterinarian records for the dog were unclear and were updated, she said.

Also, Steenhoek said November is Home Care Month.

-- Heard from Environmental Health Director Kevin Luetters about two scheduled court cases involving septic systems -- one located between Newton and Kellogg and another near Marioposa Park. Luetters said he has worked with Kelly Bennett of the Jasper County Attorney's office and that "most of these situations get cured once a property owner realizes I'm not going to go away."

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com

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