Kenosha County ranks 64th and 60th in Wis. in UW health report

Kenosha County ranked 64th out of 72 counties in Health Outcomes and 60th in Health Factors, according to the new County Health Rankings report released this month by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Last year, the county ranked ranked 61st  in Health Outcomes and 57th in Health Factors. The Rankings have ranked the health of Wisconsin counties annually since 2003.

“The Rankings help us identify factors that are making it difficult for residents to maintain a healthy lifestyle and understand how we compare to other counties in the state,” said Cindy Johnson, Director/Health Officer of the Kenosha County Health Department. “With this knowledge, we can take steps to improve the health of our residents.”

The Rankings, available at www.countyhealthrankings.org, includes a snapshot of each county in Wisconsin with a color-coded map comparing each county’s overall health ranking. Researchers used five measures to assess the level of overall health or “Health Outcomes” for Wisconsin by county: the rate of people dying before age 75, the percent of people who report being in fair or poor health, the number of days people report being in poor physical and poor mental health, and the rate of low-birth weight infants. The Rankings also looks at Health Factors that affect people’s health within four categories: health behavior, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment. Among the many health factors they looked at: rates of adult smoking, adult obesity, excessive drinking among adults, and teenage births; the number of uninsured adults, availability of primary care providers, and preventable hospital stays; rates of high school graduation, adults who have attended college, children in poverty; and community safety; access to healthy foods and air pollution levels.

Among the Health Factors listed in the County Health Rankings report, Kenosha County ranked:

• 48 th in health behaviors.
• 61 st in clinical care.
• 59th in social and economic factors.
• 63rd for physical environment.
• overall ranking of 57 th in Wisconsin.

Many of these health factors are being addressed through the Healthy People Kenosha County 2020 initiative, Johnson said.

Healthy People Kenosha County 2020 is a 10-year effort to build a safe and healthy community. The plan works in conjunction with health goals set by the Healthiest Wisconsin 2020 plan and the national Healthy People 2020 plan and is a collaborative effort between many agencies and organizations in Kenosha County. The mission of Healthy People Kenosha County 2020 is to mobilize community resources to address and improve locally identified health priorities. The County Health Rankings report uses data from several sources, including the National Center for Health Statistics, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The most current data is from 2010, but several sources are from 2007 and even 2006. For more information, please visit www.countyhealthrankings.org.