MATTAWA - Issues uncovered by a public health survey in Mattawa will be addressed during the development this year of a Grant County community health improvement plan, Sawta Sackett reported at the March meeting of county board of health.

Sackett, an epidemiologist with the Grant County Health District, reported that there is a high rate of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), and Mattawa has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in Grant County.

Sackett got her information from Grant County health District HIV/AIDS case manager and assessment coordinator Stephanie Dowland, who surveyed cities in Grant County. That survey found:

• The median age in that community is 22.
• The population is 95.7 percent Hispanic.
• Mattawa is the most densely populated city in the state.
• Ninety-two percent of children qualify for free or reduced lunch.
• The residents consider their community agricultural.
• They have concerns about gangs and lack of housing.
• There are two clinics in the area.
• The residents say that access is difficult to the pesticide dump in Ephrata.

"The Health District will be starting a community health improvement plan in 2013, and these are the types of things that will be addressed," Sackett said.