tion. Upper Chesapeake Bay Dairy and
__ About 100 Baltimore area nutri- Food Nutrition Council is fully
I!« Ai I ammaw 14 I ACC tion and health professionals funded by the Middle Atlantic
LOnQ©r i CmOYiny ll LwvO attended the annual breakfast. The Division, Dairymen, Inc.
York Woman
York Co. Correspondent
84-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 25,1989
BY JOYCE BUPP
COLUMBIA, Md.— Ameri
cans arc living longer, but may be
enjoying it less, claims public
health specialist Dr. Katherine
Armstrong. And, the cost is
exploding.
One billion dollars is spent
every day, says Dr. Armstrong, in
caring for those suffering from the
major lifestyle-related health
problems - cancer, heart prob
lems, diabetes, accidents and
violence.
Dr. Armstrong is the coordina
tor of children and school pro
grams in the Office of Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion,
a part of the national Department
of Health and Human Services.
She was featured speaker at the
February 7 annual breakfast meet
ing of the Upper Chesapeake Bay
Division of the Dairy and Food
Nutrition Council of the South
east, held at the Columbia Inn.
The Office of Disease Preven
tion was established in response to
the medical field’s call for a public
health effort to focus on prevent
ing rather than treatment of
lifestyle-related illnesses.
Initial tactics to improve
America’s collective health were
Washington public health specialist Dr. Katherine Arms
trong following her Dairy Council presentation.
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aimed at meeting 226 objectives
in three categories by 1990. Those
areas were better prevention
through screening of potential
problems in doctors’ offices,
health protection from environ
mental and safety hazards, and the
promotion of healthier habits.
While all objectives have not
been met, Dr. Armstrong noted
that death from strokes has
decreased by 55 percent and from
heart problems by 45 percent.
Only 28 percent of the population
smoke, compared to 46 percent a
decade ago, and alcohol consump
tion is decreasing.
Greater awareness of vehicular
seat belt use and safety caps on
medicines are also among the
accomplishments of the nation’s
health objectives.
“We’ve increased the guilt level
considerably in this country,”
chuckled Dr. Armstrong, who lib
erally sprinkled humor through
her serious health message. “At no
age is it too late to change your
habits to improve your lifestyle.”
National Health Objectives for
the year 2000 focus heavily on
improving habits. Top priorities
are to reduce tobacco, alcohol and
other drug use.
While nutrition gets third prior-
ity ranking, no specific foods are
singled out. The blood cholesterol
issue, in fact, which in the past has
focused on specific foods, mostly
animal-sourced, has been slotted
to the 16th place in a list of 21
objectives.
“Mental health is getting
increasing attention as a priority,”
noted the public health specialist.
Improving mental health and pre
venting mental illness is ranked
fifth, just behind the fourth priori
ty of increased physical fitness.
Although progress is seen in
some health areas, others lag seri
ously. Children and adolescents
are “worse off than in the ‘6o’s,”
according to Dr. Armstrong, espe
cially in the “prevcntables” --
alcohol and drug use, suicides and
homicides.
Ethnic groups, specifically
Blacks, Hispanics and Indians,
suffer with a death rate between
two and three limes that of other
groups. And, males continue to
die at a rale inequitably above
females.
“We have lacked a national
commitment in the past toward
health improvements,” concluded
Dr. Armstrong.
Carolyn Thompson, nutrition
education director of the Upper
Chesapeake Bay Dairy and Food
Nutrition Council, was honored at
the meeting for ten years of ser
vice. Jesse Burall, president of the
Dairy Council, made the presenta-
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(Continued from Page B 2)
had to survey were extremely
helpful.”
Because of the periodic nature
of the surveys, Phyllis spends
many hours on the job some
weeks, and none on other weeks.
She has learned the times of the
year that most of the surveys are
done, and plans her personal and
home schedule accordingly.
“I really do enjoy doing it,”
Phyllis says of her job gathering
data on the nation’s agriculture
conditions. “There’s flexibility in
the work schedule. The times
when I’m working on surveys are
not usually when the farm is the
busiest.”
Rarely, though, does she do any
interviewing early on a Monday
morning. A major part of the
Gross’ family operation is finish
ing beef cattle, and Monday morn
ing is loading time for the weekly
stockyard trip.
Phyllis was “hired” as an assis
tant in loading cattle one Septem'
her when the youngsters returned
to school. When she asked their
youngest, Daniel, what she would
need to know about loading cattle,
he passed on the advice Grandpa
Harold had ingrained on his mem
ory: “Keep your mouth shut and
don’t play with your stick.” When
you play with the slick, explains
Phyllis, you’re not paying atten
tion to what you’re supposed to be
doing.
Cattle of all sizes can be hand
led through several diverse feed
ing facilities at Cold Springs, with
some 500 finished yearly. A
smaller sideline of farrow-to
finish hogs mashes well with the
feedlot, and the approximately
800 acres cropped primarily to
com and wheat, plus some alfalfa
and mixed hay.
Steve, Jr., 21,
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Cobleskill Agriculture Technical
School, New York, has returned to
the family operation. He and his
wife, Becky, who is employed by
York Bank, live on a farm adjoin
ing the “home place.”
Gretta, 19, is a chemistry, pre
med major at Juniata University.
A freshman at Northeastern High
School, 15-year-old Dan works on
the farm and shows beef cattle in
the 4-H program, as all the Gross
children have done.
The Gross’ are active in numer
ous agriculture and community
organizations. Steve is on the
board of the county farmer’s asso
ciation, and Phyllis serves on
church council and is a long-time
member of Agri-Women. During
the November annual meeting of
American Agri-Women,. hosted
by Pennsylvania in Philadelphia,
Phyllis won the grand door prize
of a riding lawn mower.
In her visits with farmers across
York County, Phyllis has
observed a trend that stirs in her
some concern for the future of the
area’s family farm tradition. More
and more farm families, she
relates, are supplementing their
agriculture income with outside
jobs, or becoming part-time
farmers.
That’s the sort of information
that statistical survey data is
designed to relay to federal gov
ernment and other policymaking
bodies. Future agriculture direc
tion will be based significantly on
the information that enumerators
gather through personal
interviews.
When Phyllis Gross and other
'■ ©numerators for the statistics ser
vice knock at fanners’ doors, they
offer a unique opportunity to tell a
personal farm story, which will
help influence long-term ag policy
for the nation and the world.
a graduate of