Every three years, Guthrie County Public Health conducts a Community Health Needs Assessment, which looks at indicators that show how healthy the County’s population is. Director Jotham Arber says the amount of cigarette smokers is one of those figures analyzed and Guthrie County is looking good in that aspect. “The total number of adults that smoke is nine percent of our total population. If we look at Iowa as a whole, it ranks at 18 percent. Most of that demographic is in the southern part of our county. Reasons for that could include, Interstate 80 running by the southern part of the County and having more workers in the southern part of the County.”

Arber will tell us more about countywide health today on Let’s Talk Guthrie County. It airs during the 9 a.m., noon and 5 p.m. hours on K107.9 and www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.