Poverty can be a vicious circle

Community health is a connected picture, the Asotin County health district administrator says in response to the county's poor health profile reported by the Washington Health Foundation.

"Everything interplays from the other," Carmel Donahue says. "Affluence is the best form of birth control. A high poverty level is connected to low education.

"You have to argue which comes first, what feeds off the other."

In the foundation's report, Asotin County workers took home an average of $23,401 a year, the fourth lowest average income in the state.

Statistics through 1999 showed while 10 percent of Washington residents lived below the poverty level, 16 percent in Asotin County lived below the poverty line, including 23 percent of children under 17.

Asotin had the third highest high school dropout rate in the state and 36.3 of every 1,000 teen-age girls ages 15 to 17 had given birth.

The state average was 23.9 out of 1,000.

Poverty and the challenges that come from teen pregnancy and lack of education can make life feel pretty bad, Donahue says, which leads to more destructive behavior, like smoking and alcohol and drug addiction.

"If life feels bad you want to look for something that makes you feel good."

Poverty is seen as the root of so many problems that the Spokane Health Department has considered putting money toward economic development, she says.

"It's not that black and white, but when people have more money they have a better diet, get more exercise and get more education."

The foundation's statistics showed teen pregnancy has reached its highest peak ever in Asotin County.

Donahue says there are no teen pregnancy prevention programs offered in the Clarkston or Asotin schools through the health department. The reasons include funding and sensitivity to community feelings about sex education.

The department does have a program called First Steps, which offers counseling, maternity support services and education on nutrition and parenting skills.

The program was created to decrease the taxpayer cost for the birth of an unhealthy baby.

In Asotin County, the program serves about 135 women per month and attempts to help them not only have a healthy babies but deal with issues like domestic abuse and drugs.