MONROE - The SHOW is about to begin in Green County.
The Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) is a University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health research project that measures the health of residents from all over the state.
About 28 Green County households in the Towns of Washington, Adams, York, New Glarus and Monroe will take part in the survey this winter. Roughly 1,200 households from around Wisconsin are invited to participate each year.
Beginning the week of Jan. 17, SHOW surveyors will knock on the doors of randomly selected households in Green County to invite people to participate.
"Our main recruitment method is to go to the houses, to get a real a representative sample of the people," said Phoebe Frenette, SHOW Community Relations Coordinator. Frenette said mailings and media coverage are also used to notify people of SHOW.
SHOW surveyors, traveling alone or in pairs, ask people to volunteer to participate in the survey.
People who agree to participate complete a multi-step, in-person health survey.
Frenette said participants first complete an in-home interview, which takes about 1-2 hours.
In mid-February, they are asked to do an additional interview and have several physical measurements taken at SHOW's specially designed Mobile Survey Center. All the individual information collected by SHOW will be kept confidential.
The Green County Department of Health will help SHOW find a place to park its mobile van. In past years, the mobile survey centers have parked at local libraries, baseball diamonds, health centers, village halls and supermarkets.
The 38-foot-long, extra-wide research vehicles feature private and comfortable examination and interview areas, as well as a laboratory for secure specimen processing.
Inside the temperature-controlled vehicles, field team members conduct the additional interviews, take physical measurements, including blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory function, height, weight and body composition, and collect blood, urine and saliva specimens for basic testing and long-term storage for future studies. SHOW combines personal interviews, laboratory tests, physical measurements and community environmental measurements to gather important information on residents' health. The information that SHOW compiles will be made available to researchers and local health leaders interested in Wisconsin's public health issues.
"Wisconsin is the first state to conduct a health survey this extensive and of this magnitude," Frenette said.
SHOW was launched in June 2008 by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH), and is modeled after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which has provided information about the nation's health for more than 40 years.
Researchers, public health officials and doctors believe the state surveys are important for identifying and addressing Wisconsin's future health needs.
"SHOW aims to present a picture of the health of people in Wisconsin," said Dr. F. Javier Nieto of the University of Wisconsin's School of Medicine and Public Health and Director of SHOW. "Our vision is that the information SHOW collects through the years will play an important role in monitoring the health of Wisconsin people, and in guiding community and statewide health services."
Dr. Henry Anderson, Chief Medical Officer for the state Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health in the Division of Public Health said SHOW will provide current health and prospective clinical information never before available in Wisconsin.
"This survey will make us better equipped to develop initiatives that will help make Wisconsin healthier than ever," he added.
The data will be updated yearly, when researchers contact participants by telephone to learn of new health developments, such as a hospitalization or a new diagnosis of cardiovascular disease or cancer. SHOW is funded by the National Institutes of Health's Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and by the University of Wisconsin's Partnership for a Healthy Future. For current updates about the SHOW program, visit www.show.wisc.edu.
The Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) is a University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health research project that measures the health of residents from all over the state.
About 28 Green County households in the Towns of Washington, Adams, York, New Glarus and Monroe will take part in the survey this winter. Roughly 1,200 households from around Wisconsin are invited to participate each year.
Beginning the week of Jan. 17, SHOW surveyors will knock on the doors of randomly selected households in Green County to invite people to participate.
"Our main recruitment method is to go to the houses, to get a real a representative sample of the people," said Phoebe Frenette, SHOW Community Relations Coordinator. Frenette said mailings and media coverage are also used to notify people of SHOW.
SHOW surveyors, traveling alone or in pairs, ask people to volunteer to participate in the survey.
People who agree to participate complete a multi-step, in-person health survey.
Frenette said participants first complete an in-home interview, which takes about 1-2 hours.
In mid-February, they are asked to do an additional interview and have several physical measurements taken at SHOW's specially designed Mobile Survey Center. All the individual information collected by SHOW will be kept confidential.
The Green County Department of Health will help SHOW find a place to park its mobile van. In past years, the mobile survey centers have parked at local libraries, baseball diamonds, health centers, village halls and supermarkets.
The 38-foot-long, extra-wide research vehicles feature private and comfortable examination and interview areas, as well as a laboratory for secure specimen processing.
Inside the temperature-controlled vehicles, field team members conduct the additional interviews, take physical measurements, including blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory function, height, weight and body composition, and collect blood, urine and saliva specimens for basic testing and long-term storage for future studies. SHOW combines personal interviews, laboratory tests, physical measurements and community environmental measurements to gather important information on residents' health. The information that SHOW compiles will be made available to researchers and local health leaders interested in Wisconsin's public health issues.
"Wisconsin is the first state to conduct a health survey this extensive and of this magnitude," Frenette said.
SHOW was launched in June 2008 by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH), and is modeled after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which has provided information about the nation's health for more than 40 years.
Researchers, public health officials and doctors believe the state surveys are important for identifying and addressing Wisconsin's future health needs.
"SHOW aims to present a picture of the health of people in Wisconsin," said Dr. F. Javier Nieto of the University of Wisconsin's School of Medicine and Public Health and Director of SHOW. "Our vision is that the information SHOW collects through the years will play an important role in monitoring the health of Wisconsin people, and in guiding community and statewide health services."
Dr. Henry Anderson, Chief Medical Officer for the state Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health in the Division of Public Health said SHOW will provide current health and prospective clinical information never before available in Wisconsin.
"This survey will make us better equipped to develop initiatives that will help make Wisconsin healthier than ever," he added.
The data will be updated yearly, when researchers contact participants by telephone to learn of new health developments, such as a hospitalization or a new diagnosis of cardiovascular disease or cancer. SHOW is funded by the National Institutes of Health's Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and by the University of Wisconsin's Partnership for a Healthy Future. For current updates about the SHOW program, visit www.show.wisc.edu.