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Show Don 't forget health Wants outweigh some real needs With a new year just around the corner we grow reflective I and begin to assess where we've been and where we hope to go, as a family, a community and nation. Wants sometimes outweigh real needs as we gird up for I 1991. Children, fresh from Christmas receiving, are already I wishing they had more toys, while their parents, who may have given more than was reasonable, wish for a way to have all I those bills paid. Merchants, on the other hand, are looking for mechanisms that will trigger more buying and spark yet another an-other upsurge in sales. I In the midst of all this, Utah's and the nation's growing core of homeless just want to find decent food and a warm place to rest their heads as the Arctic Express chills us to un- I precedented lows. So let's pause on the threshold of 1991 and take time out to appreciate what we've already got. And, would you believe I one of Utah's most precious possessions is above average health? That's right, a study released this week by the national Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta shows that Utah ties with North Dakota as the states with the nation's second lowest rate of preventable deaths from nine major diseases. The study shows that Hawaii is the state with the nation's I lowestrate of preventable deaths, 26.4 percent of 2,817 deaths. I Utah and North Dakota are second with 33.2 percent. I Michigan had the highest rate, 53.5 percent, followed by West I Virginia at 53.3 percent. - , I The study looked at deaths from stroke, lung cancer, I coronary heart disease, breast cancer, diabetes, cervical cancer, chronic liver disease, colorectal cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 1986, the latest year the figures were available. I Doug Vilnius, community health services director for the Utah Department of Health, thinks Utah's above average healthy population is directly attributed to the state's well-educated, well-educated, clean-living people. Eighty percent of Utah adults have graduated from high school, the second highest ranking in the country, according to statistics from the Office of Education. Edu-cation. Vilnius thinks there is a link. He says people who are educated about healthful lifestyles are more likely to make reasonable choices when they eat and are more likely to be aware of and take preventive health measures. Another factor may be the average Utahn's dislike for cigarettes. ciga-rettes. The state has the nation's lowest percentage of adults who smoke. "And that consistently has been shown as the most significant factor affecting our state's health status," Vilnius said. If you've got your health, you've got everything, goes the old saw. During this season of thankfulness, giving and making mak-ing pledges for the future, that's for certain a major consideration. |