Written by Sophie Thibodeaux \/\/ Photo by Balazs Balassa <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had trailers parked beside the Ganus Activities Complex (GAC) since last November for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to collect health and nutrition data on White County residents. The trailers were removed from campus on Tuesday, Feb. 14.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Lisa Ritchie, professor of family and consumer sciences (FCS), said the CDC is conducting an ongoing survey to gather data about the health and nutrition status of people in the U.S..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey divide all of the counties in the U.S. into 15 different buckets and choose randomly a county out of each bucket,\u201d Ritchie said. \u201cThe buckets are based on size and makeup of the community, and they try to assess 5,000 people a year. When they come to White County, they randomly select people to participate in the screening, and it\u2019s just data collection to find out how we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ritchie added that the survey goes beyond analyzing people\u2019s health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe talked with the chief medical officer, and he told us that the data is used in planning programs,\u201d Ritchie said. \u201cHow wide should an airline seat be? All kinds of things that we\u2019re going to interact with every day, and we have no idea. It\u2019s more than just how we\u2019re doing health-wise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Ritchie, there were three sets of trucks outside the GAC, combined into a small clinic. Dr. Brittany Cumbie, FCS department chair, spoke about the involvement of the survey at Harding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey reached out to us at Harding to the nutrition department and the family consumer sciences because we talk about the surveys that they do in all of our courses,\u201d Cumbie said. \u201cThe surveys they do in the community help outline and change guidelines. So some of the things that they survey in their health surveys have changed the food pyramid plates \u2026 People in the community receive letters, so it was a randomized study that not everyone in Searcy or White County got a letter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Baldemar Gomez, the manager of the surveys in the trailers, said the survey has been ongoing for more than 50 years, targeting 15 counties annually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe do what we call an initial screening of who lives in a particular residence, and then once we identify who lives there, the computer will randomly select a number of people to participate in the survey,\u201d Gomez said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gomez said the survey team is usually at a given location for about five to six weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur goal was to be able to identify at least anywhere between 300 to 350 to be selected for the health exams,\u201d Gomez said. \u201cThose people who were selected to do the exams, when they come in, we do a series of exams including blood work analysis, body measurements, blood pressure, an ultrasound on adults and a balance test on adults.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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