DHEC surveys Columbia resident’s health habits

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — State health officials are going door-to-door in a Columbia neighborhood to ask people about their health habits.

WIS-TV reported (http://bit.ly/P8v1Kf ) the Department of Health and Environmental Control hopes to complete more than 200 surveys by the end of the day Thursday.

A group reports the 29203 zip code has one of the highest diabetes-related amputation rates in the United States. About 30 percent of residents in the north Columbia neighborhood don’t have health insurance. The average person in the neighborhood makes two trips to an emergency room each year.

Mark Barnes with DHEC says officials hope to improve those statistics by understanding how people live.

Barnes says questions include whether a person smokes and whether a person exercises regularly.

The information is kept anonymous.

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Information from: WIS-TV, http://www.wistv.com