Press release:
The seventh annual County Health Rankings were released last week by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The rankings allow each county to see how healthy their community is compared to other counties within and now outside their state, too, based on many factors measured, including but not limited to education, transportation, housing, violent crimes, jobs, diet and exercise.
The County Health Rankings are a snapshot of the impact that the measured factors have on the health of each county. The rankings for New York State are out of the 62 counties.
There are five main categories and the factors that make up each category are measured and ranked. These are:
- Health Outcomes (Today’s Health): which includes length of life, premature death, sickness, mental health and low birth weight;
- Health Factors (Tomorrow’s Health): including health behav- iors: adult smoking, adult obesity, food environment index, phys- ical inactivity, access to exercise opportunities, excessive drink- ing, alcohol-impaired driving deaths, sexually transmitted dis- ease and teen births;
- Clinical Care: including uninsured, primary care physicians, dentists, mental health providers, preventable hospital stays, dia- betic monitoring, and mammography screening.
- Social and Economic Factors: including high school graduation, some college, unemploy- ment, children in poverty, social associations, children in single-parent households, violent crime and injury deaths;
- and Physical Environment: including air pollution, drinking water violations, severe housing prob- lems, driving alone to work, and long commute – driving alone.
The County Health Rankings are compiled from many different types of national data sources. The county with the lowest score (best health) gets a rank of #1 for that state and the county with the highest score (worst health) is assigned a rank corresponding to the number of total counties ranked in each state.
Results for Genesee County are as follows:
- 27th in overall Health Outcomes
- 22nd in overall Health Factors
- 55th in Clinical Care
- 11th in Social and Economic Factors
- and 20th in Physical Environment
Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming County Health departments continue to implement the 2013- 2018 Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) developed to address some of the issues noted in the County Health Rankings, as well as community residents’ concerns noted in the Community Health Assessment Survey conducted in 2013.
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With the assistance of our hospitals and community organizations, Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties chose two priority areas from the New York State Department of Health Preven- tion Agenda to work toward improving. These priority areas are Preventing Chronic Diseases and Promoting Mental Health and Preventing Substance Abuse.
“An update of this plan will occur this year and these Rankings are helpful as it gives the community a quick-look of the strengths and the weaknesses we can improve upon,” said Paul Pettit, Public Health director for Genesee and Orleans counties.
It is important to note that this year should not be necessarily compared to those previous as the way data is collected in some of the categories has changed.
The Health departments continue to partner with community organizations, faith based organizations, businesses and community members to work toward decreasing obesity, diabetes, stroke, heart disease and nicotine related illnesses. They are also in the process of promoting SpeakYourMind211.com, a new resource for the public and providers who are searching for local mental health and substance abuse services.
The Genesee County Health Department (GCHD) is now using four types of classifications to provide important information to medical and public health professionals, and to other interested persons:
- Health Alerts convey information of the highest level of importance which warrants immediate action or attention from New York health providers, emergency responders, public health agencies, and/or the public;
- Health Advisories provide important information for a specific incident or situation, including that impacting neighboring states; may not require immediate action;
- Health Guidances contain comprehensive information pertaining to a particular disease or condition, and include recommendations, guidelines, etc. endorsed by GCHD;
- Health Updates provide new or updated information on an incident or situation; can also provide information to update a previously sent Health Alert, Health Advisory, or Health Guidance; unlikely to require immediate action.
To learn more about the NYS Prevention Agenda visit: http://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/ prevention_agenda/2013-2017/?utm_source=doh&utm_medium=hp- button&utm_campaign=prev_agenda
To get a detailed look at the 2016 County Health Rankings visit: http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/
For information about health department services:
Genesee County Health Department call: 344-2580, ext. 5555, or visit the Web site at www.co.genesee.ny.us/departments/health/index.html
