We Want to Hear From You – Franklin County Community Health Needs Assessment

To ensure that we are meeting the health needs of Franklin County, we ask that you would please take time to complete our Community Health Needs Assessment. This assessment will determine what health issues we will address over the next three years in Franklin County.

You can complete the survey until Friday, June 18 by clicking the link below.

Health ENC Survey -English 

Health ENC Survey-Spanish

*Call 919-496-2533 ext. 2386 if you would like to have a hard copy of the survey*

Thank you in advance for your input.

May – Mental Health Awareness Month
How Can I Improve My Mental Health?

You can find lots of great information online, on this site, and many others. Read all you can about mental illness-what it is and how it works at the following website, Mental Health America website. If you’ve been diagnosed with something, you can also look up information on that specific condition. (Otherwise, start by taking one of our mental health screens!) Guided Mental Health journal

It also helps to find stories about people who have lived with mental illness. You can read blog posts or memoirs, watch videos, or visit forums like Reddit or other online communities. Mental Health America Tools and Topics Hearing about other people’s experiences will help you feel less alone, identify exactly what’s going on, and get good ideas about what might work for you.

Learn all you can about yourself

Your mental health is intertwined with your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It’s a part of who you are, and it’s hard to work on your mental health without learning more about yourself.
You might feel like you already know yourself pretty well, but we all have things we’re unaware of or are too uncomfortable to admit. Here are some ways to get to know yourself better:

• Track your moods. Every day, or even multiple times a day, just write down how you’re feeling. If you can identify what made you feel that way, write that down too. Read the MHA article. After a while, you’ll be able to identify patterns. Maybe depression hits you harder on cloudy days… or maybe you get super anxious when you interact with new people. The more you can predict your moods, the less they can take you by surprise – and the better you can cope with them. Be sure to track positive moods as well as negative ones!
• Pay attention to your thinking. Your thoughts influence your feelings, which influence your behaviors. Be on the lookout for negative self-talk and irrational beliefs.  Who Can I Talk To?
• Identify your coping skills. We all have different ways of coping with our emotions. Do you stress eat? Do you drink when you’re upset? Do you go for a run, play video games, listen to music, or call a friend? These are all coping skills, and they all have pros and cons. Try not to label your coping skills as “good” or “bad”. Instead, think about how well they work – short-term, and long-term.
• Get feedback from people you trust.    When you’re at your lowest point, you’ll probably need support and encouragement more than anything. But once you’re in a place where you can handle it, you’ll also want to get some more constructive feedback. How to improve your mental health on your own. Try to find people who will deliver it in a sensitive way … but be prepared to hear some things that might be uncomfortable.

For additional information: Mental Health America website

Take an online mental health screening

Happy International Mediterranean Diet Month

May is International Mediterranean Diet Month (aka Med Month) – a great time of year to start eating the Med Way. Learn more at the Med instead of Meds website. Med Instead of Meds.

The Med way is simple, delicious, and satisfying. It reflects a way of eating that is traditional in the countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea and includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, nuts, seeds, and olive oil and limits highly processed foods and added sugar. The Mediterranean diet has been extensively studied and is associated with promoting health and decreasing the risk of many chronic diseases including some forms of cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Science of eating Med

As such, the healthy Mediterranean-style eating pattern is recommended around the world, including in the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Join the Med Month celebration today by exploring Med instead of meds resources.

Flyer

Spinach and North Carolina Strawberry Salad

Watch a demonstration by Dominque Simon, Area FCS Agent as she assembles Spinach and North Carolina Strawberry Salad.

View Recipe

National Wine Day – May 25th

One tip from the Med Way (Mediterranean diet) includes drinking red wine, in moderation (optional*) – no more than five ounces of wine/day for women of all ages and men older than 65 and no more than 10 ounces of wine/day for younger men. Red wine, in moderation, has long been thought of as heart healthy. The alcohol and certain substances in red wine called antioxidants may help prevent coronary artery disease, the condition that leads to heart attacks.

Any links between red wine and fewer heart attacks aren’t completely understood, but part of the benefit might be that antioxidants in red wine may increase levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol) and protect against cholesterol buildup.

Doctors don’t recommend that you start drinking alcohol for heart benefits, especially if you have a family history of alcohol addiction. Too much alcohol can have many harmful effects on your body.

But if you already enjoy a glass of red wine with your evening meal, drinking it in moderation appears to help your heart.

Celebrate National Wine Day by learning about the history of wine making each bottle of wine tells a unique story. If you close your eyes, wine’s aromas and flavors can transport you to faraway lands, giving you hints about the soil and weather the grapes grew in, the landscape of the country the wine originated in, and what was happening in the world at the time the wine was bottled. The best part? You don’t even have to get on a plane to travel the world!*

*Consuming alcohol is not recommended if you have a personal or family history of alcohol abuse, or if you have heart or liver disease.