Marathon County is in need of many improvements regarding health issues surrounding the community.

That's according to the county's health officer, Julie Willems Van Dijk, who says issues like alcohol, obesity, smoking and suicide are all being given a closer look.

Wednesday, during a community health forum, health professionals will do just that. It's an effort to help make Wisconsin the healthiest state, a UW-Madison project.

"They're looking at what are the determinants of health, and really drilling down to look at specific factors that contribute to health and how we might be able to challenge things," she said.

Alcohol abuse continues to be a problem here, and throughout the state.

"I think there's a lot of efforts in the area around alcohol use efforts....around binge drinking, drunk driving, underage drinking," she said.

She believes there should be better access to mental health services too, to address the area's high suicide rate.

"The whole area of suicide and mental health is an area we've been working on. We continue to see a very high rate of suicide in this county," she said.

Willems Van Dijk says they have made strides in helping people quit smoking.....going from 30 percent 10 years ago, to 16 percent now.

They've also been adament about cutting the area's obesity rate, by encouraging more bicycle trails and walking routes throughout the community.