FDL County Health Priorities

Fond du Lac County has released the health priorities they will focus on for the next three years. The Healthy Fond du Lac County 2020 Steering Committee is taking aim at the issues surrounding physical activity and nutrition, mental health, and alcohol and drug use. 

County Health Officer Kim Mueller says while the plan of attack isn’t completely mapped out yet, borrowing ideas from other communities and fitting them to the Fond du Lac area could help. Mueller says “we need to maybe look at what other communities are doing well, see if
that would work for Fond du Lac, see if 
we can tweak it to make it work best for Fond du Lac and then see how it
goes. You know, we can’t necessarily just concentrate on the data like our
keynote speaker said, we just really need to start acting on something.”

She adds that it’s about “trial and error. If that didn’t work then let’s try something else. But when you look at changing a culture and changing an entire community, a lot of times the little things help, but it’s those bigger policy changes that are going to make a difference.”

Binge drinking and other drug abuse was one of the top concerns in a recent survey – with more than fifty percent of respondents listing it in their top three health issues facing the county. The priorities are also aiming to get rid of the stigma surrounding mental health and increasing access for treatment.