Health Matters In a Major City Survey


                   By LISA L. COLANGELO
                   Daily News City Hall Bureau

                   Pick it up. It's the Health Department.

                   The city is doing its largest phone survey ever to find out the
                   health habits of New Yorkers.

                   The confidential survey will quiz 10,000 people about their diet
                   and exercise, and whether they smoke or suffer from any diseases.

                   Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden hopes the information will
                   allow the department to better track health conditions throughout
                   the city and provide services to match.

                   "Individual doctors monitor the vital signs of patients," Frieden
                   said. "The Health Department, with this unparalleled survey, is
                   substantially improving its monitoring of the vital signs of every
                   community in the city."

                   The 15-minute survey also asks people whether they seek regular
                   preventative care, such as screenings for blood pressure and colon
                   cancer, as well as mammograms.

                   Along with English, the interviews will be conducted in Spanish,
                   Haitian Creole, Russian, Polish, Cantonese, Mandarian, Korean,
                   Greek and Yiddish.

                   New Yorkers have participated in other surveys, conducted by
                   the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But this is
                   the largest one conducted by the city and the only one that
                   attempts to compile answers community by community.

Taking the pulse of nabes

"We will be able to take the pulse of different neighborhoods," said
Dr. Farzad Mostashari, an assistant health commissioner who is
overseeing the project.

For example, several questions deal with smoking.  Frieden, who was
appointed by Mayor Bloomberg in January, has made smoking
cessation his priority.

"It's the No. 1, by far, preventable cause of death," said Mostashari.
"We're asking New Yorkers for the first time whether they are
exposed to second-hand smoke."

Investigators will look for links between behaviors such as smoking
and conditions such as asthma and infant mortality.

Mostashari said the survey will be completed in two weeks, and then
analyzed by staff.

A report is expected by December.


NYC C.L.A.S.H. Opinion:

A phone survey to determine the extent people THINK they're exposed to smoking??   As if that will have any meaning whatsoever, even if it's in our favor!  (and they wouldn't dare publish the results then).

This survey will rely on the memories and personal anecdotal stories of the people they speak to.  Depending on how much fear has been enshrined in them about the alleged harm from someone else's smoke, will be a determining factor in how much they "remember" being around it.

Additionally, what exactly are the questions they are asking?  Without knowing how the questions are phrased there is no knowing whether or not they have slanted the questions to reach a desired answer that would support their preconceived conclusion.

Not only should we be worried about questions related to smoking but to any question about our personal lifestyle choices such as diet.

The only thing that could come out of this sort of survey is a plan by the NYC government to infringe upon your choices with regulations and calls for taxation "for your own good."  They are less interested in helping you than they are in controlling you.

Currently the war is being waged on food.  You've seen the news reports -- saying Super Size It! is bad for everyone and something must be done about the fast food industry trying to hook you with larger portions through advertisements.  Sound familiar?

So if your phone rings and the person on the other end says, "Hello.  This is the NYC Dept. of Health," tell them to mind their own business and then hang up on them.
 

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