THOMASVILLE — Everyone has to die of something, but for southwest Georgians it’s a nearly even chance that the cause of death will be a heart attack or cancer.

And in many cases those deaths are preventable.

Heart disease accounts for 27.2 percent of premature deaths in Thomas County, and cancer is second at 21.3 percent, which is in line with the Southwest Public Health District’s overall rate of 27 percent death rate from heart disease and 22 percent from cancer.

As part of a virtual wellness community for the district, the district donated a personal computer, which will be located at the Thomas County Library, to allow access to the Hooked on Health work site.

Hooked on Health focuses on five areas: smoking cessation, stress reduction, healthy eating, being active and getting screened.

“Those basically would be good ones to follow,” said Carolyn Maschke, public information for the 14-county health district. “Research shows we are awfully sedentary, and just a little bit of exercise is healthful. And no matter how long you’ve been smoking, quitting will be beneficial.”

A 2006 obesity report by Trust for America’s Health indicated that 25.5 percent of adult Georgians were obese, and ranked the state as the 12th highest in the nation. Georgia also was one of the 31 states where obesity rates increased from the previous year.

The report said that the South was the “biggest belt,” with nine of the 10 states with the highest rates of obesity. Georgia also ranked 17th in the country for adult diabetes levels at 7.8 percent, and ranked 15th for rates of hypertension at 27.1 percent.

“We recognize that not everyone in every county may have Internet access, so Southwest District Public Health provided computers to each of our counties to ensure that everyone would have access to our Hooked on Health wellness program,” Dr. Jacqueline Grant, health district director. “We feel very strongly that using Hooked on Health can help improve the health status of our residents, in a way that is easy and enjoyable.”

The program was introduced to the health district’s 350 employees two years ago.

“It was an immediate success,” Grant said. “The majority of our employees now engage in regular wellness activities. Participants have been successful in losing weight, stopping smoking and identifying potentially dangerous health conditions like diabetes. It was so successful that we decided to take it community-wide.”

Through collaboration with Albany State University and Darton College, a custom-made computer program was developed to allow users to join a supportive community, select wellness activities and goals, monitor their personal progress and access health-related educational materials. Hooked on Health can accommodate teams as well as individual users. To access the program, go online to www.southwestgeorgiapublichealth.org and click on “Hooked on Health” in the left-hand menu.

Participants are required to register to use Hooked on Health so that data can be entered and tracked, but personal information is encrypted.

“Your privacy and personal information is protected,” Grant said.