e, as measured by the county, is 81.7 per 1,000 women aged 15-to-44 years.
The mortality rate in the county is 8.0 per 1,000. Diseases of the heart are the leading causes of death in Rio Arriba County (24.7%), followed by malignancies (20.7%), and accidents (9.2%). The proportion of deaths dues to accidents in the county is higher than that for the State of New Mexico (9.0%) and much higher than the proportion for the United States (4.0%). Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of accidental death in Rio Arriba County and in the State of New Mexico.
The automobile crash rate per 100 million vehicle miles is 161 in Rio Arriba County. The rate for the State of New Mexico (221) is substantially higher. In the automobile crashes occurring in Rio Arriba County in 2002, 18 persons were killed and 397 were injured. Alcohol was involved in 40.1 percent of the crashes resulting in death an in 27.1 percent of the crashes resulting in injury. The death rate due to motor vehicle accidents in Rio Arriba County is 62.2 per 100,000.
Using the Assessment Protocol for Excellence in Public Health (APEXPH) model (National Association of County and City Health Officials, 2004), the problem associated with driving while intoxicated behavior (a) was identified and defined, (b) corrective actions were formulated, (c) community organization to effect the corrective actions was proposed, and (d) an evaluation plan was structured. The information developed in relation to these activities form the basis for a community health plan to address the issue. The community health plan is presented in the remainder of this paper.
Description of the Public Health Problem
The public health problems and the at-risk population associated with that health problem was identified as follows: Risk of DWI among males aged 15-44 residing in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico related to histories of alcohol abuse and traffic violations, who are unemployed,...