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Welcome To the Latest Issue of eNews!
March 18, 2010 vol 1 issue 9 Welcome to La Crosse County’s eNews. Our purpose is to keep the people of La Crosse County better informed about your County government. County government has not always been as visible as some other levels of government. So we’ll provide eNews you can use like upcoming dates for public hearings, health clinics and reminders about deadlines for dog licenses and ordinance changes. We’ll provide detailed information about our budget, highlights of innovations and achievements and updates about critical issues facing the County, like how certain actions of the State & Federal governments will affect County services and County property taxpayers. We also want the people of our County to have a chance to learn more about the inner workings of County government by providing access to the Monthly Report to the County Board. On an alternating basis, roughly half the departments report each month on the most compelling statistics, activities and challenges confronting our staff working to provide the best in public service. Link to Monthly Reports. We hope you find La Crosse County eNews helpful and informative. If you have any suggestions how to make it better, please let us know using our email links at the bottom. eNews You Can Use!
Recreational Cycling is a large draw for the WI tourism industry (Est. $1.5 billion/year) and La Crosse is becoming known as one of the best places for biking of all types.
Western Wisconsin Bike Summit Tuesday, March 23, 2010 Radisson Center, 200 Harborview Plaza 5:00 to 6:30 p.m., social time followed by speakers
Three speakers: John Burke, President of Trek Kevin Hardman, Executive Director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin Hansi Johnson, Midwest Regional Director of International Mountain Bicycling Association
Gender Balance on the County Board
Recent headline of a La Crosse Tribune editorial : La Crosse County Board looks like… we do
They were referring to the fact that out of 35 board members, 17 of us are women, 49%. When we checked on other counties, we found that only a couple of counties came close to that proportion. The average in Wisconsin is 19% female!
We also looked at the age makeup of the board. While there are no statistics available on the ages of county board members statewide, it is well known that older white males dominate across the state. The La Crosse County Board is not representative of the people of the county by age group, but we are certain that we come closer than most counties.
Why is this important? An elected body should look like the people it represents, so that the interests of all sectors of society are equally represented. This is certainly not the case at the national level, nor is it true in our state legislature. Similar situations are found all around our country. Traditional role expectations say that older white men should run the government. However, we have made an effort to change that in La Crosse County by encouraging women and young adults to run for seats on the county board. By doing this, we hope to more honestly reflect the values, needs, and desires of the people we serve.
There is a phenomenon in psychology called “the imposter syndrome.” It is most commonly experienced by women, who feel that whatever success they have had was due to luck, contacts, or perseverance. Somehow, they feel that they have "fooled" others into thinking they were smarter and more capable than they "knew" themselves to be.
By having a more diversified and representative board, we are able to be a more innovative board, willing to make changes and take risks when we see they are needed. In economic times like these, that flexibility of thinking is absolutely necessary to be successful. We are proud of our gender balance and intend to continue our efforts to make the board as responsive as possible to our citizens.
Sharon Hampson County Board Supervisor County Health Rankings The Healthy County Rankings is a program that started at the University of Wisconsin in 2003. This year, with the help of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, it has gone national. It was possible before to look up the ranking of every county in Wisconsin, and now every county in the nation has a ranking. Rankings are based on health outcomes in length and quality of life.
They break down like this: Health Behaviors, such as tobacco use, diet/exercise, and alcohol use Clinical Care: access to health care, quality of health care available Socioeconomic factors such as education, employment, income, and family and social support Physical environment, such as clean air and water
In the latest rankings released earlier this year, La Crosse County scored 21st (out of 72) in health behaviors, 1st in clinical care, 13th in socioeconomic factors, and 3rd in physical environment.
I was recently at a national public health meeting in North Carolina where one of the topics of discussion was the Healthiest Counties Rankings. They were congratulating and thanking Wisconsin for developing the system and then sharing it nationally.
The rankings are used by the Health department and the Health and Human Services Board to evaluate our programs and to develop programs that address these four areas. Our high score in clinical care is due to the excellent health care systems that are based in La Crosse, as well as public health efforts by the county and the community. Our lowest ranking, health behaviors, should come as no surprise to anyone in La Crosse. We are made painfully aware of the drinking problem in La Crosse on a regular basis, with stories of drowning and vehicular accidents while driving under the influence. We, as a community, know that we have room for improvement here, and are working in several different arenas on improving our behavior.
I was quite proud to be recognized as coming from a state that is so innovative as to develop a program that is now used nationally. I am also proud to be a member of the county board, who work hard to make our county safe and healthy and a great place to live and work.
Sharon Hampson Chair Health & Human Services Board
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