2010 County Health Rankings
Released: St. Croix County Ranks in the Top 5
County Health Rankings Report Gives Wisconsin Residents
a County-by-County Snapshot of How Multiple Factors Can
Influence Their Health
Madison, Wis., and Princeton, N.J. – Ozaukee County has
the healthiest residents in Wisconsin and Menominee
County is the least healthy county in the state,
according to a new report released today by the
University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The County Health
Rankings have ranked the health of Wisconsin counties
annually since 2003.
This year, the
Rankings were expanded to rank the overall health of the
counties in all 50 states – more than 3,000 total – by
using a standard formula to measure how healthy people
are and how long they live.
Wisconsin’s five
healthiest counties are Ozaukee, St. Croix, Washington,
Waukesha, and Portage. The five counties in the poorest
health are Menominee, Milwaukee, Marquette, Jackson, and
Adams. The healthiest of Wisconsin’s 72 counties are
largely suburban counties near the city of Milwaukee and
on the border with the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan
area; the least healthy counties are primarily located
in rural areas of central and northern Wisconsin with
the exception of Milwaukee County, the state’s most
urban county in the southeast.
“This report shows us
that there are big differences in overall health across
Wisconsin’s counties, due to many factors, ranging from
individual behavior to quality of health care, to
education and jobs, to access to healthy foods, and to
quality of the air,” says Dr. Patrick Remington,
associate dean for public health, University of
Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
St. Croix County
ranked a high #2 in the state for health outcomes, a
measure of mortality and morbidity but ranked #8 overall
for health factors. Within the health factors, St. Croix
County has identified the following health priorities:
• access to care
• diet and exercise
• tobacco use
• alcohol use
• access to healthy foods
“Our vision for Wisconsin is everyone living better
longer. The County Health Rankings raise awareness in
communities about the many factors that we must address
in order to make this vision a reality,” says Karen
Timberlake, Secretary of the Department of Health
Services.
The 2010 County Health
Rankings differ from past Wisconsin rankings. To be
consistent with the 49 other state reports, the Rankings
did not include a separate ranking for the city of
Milwaukee and several different measures were used to
determine Health Outcomes and Health Factors rankings.
For this reason, 2010 Rankings cannot be reliably
compared to the Wisconsin rankings produced in previous
years.
The online report,
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 each county: the
rate of people dying before age 75, the percent of
people who report being in fair or poor health, the
numbers of days people report being in poor physical and
poor mental health, and the rate of low-birthweight
infants.
The report then looks
at 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, binge drinking, and teenage
pregnancy; the number of uninsured adults, availability
of primary care providers, and preventable hospital
stays; rates of high school graduation, number of
children in poverty, rates of violent crime, access to
healthy foods, air pollution levels, and liquor-store
density.
“These rankings
demonstrate that health happens where we live, learn,
work, and play. And much of what influences how healthy
we are and how long we live happens outside the doctor’s
office,” says Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO
of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “We hope the
County Health Rankings spur all sectors – government,
business, community and faith-based groups, education
and public health – to work together on solutions that
address barriers to good health and help all Americans
lead healthier lives.”
The University of
Wisconsin’s Remington says that “It’s easier for people
to lead a healthy lifestyle when they live in a healthy
community – such as one that has expanded early
childhood education, enacted smoke-free laws, increased
access to healthier foods, or created more opportunities
for physical activity.
“We hope this report
can mobilize community leaders to learn what is making
their residents unhealthy and take action to invest in
programs and policy changes that improve health,”
Remington adds.
For more information,
please visit www.countyhealthrankings.org.
