The Kenosha County Division of Health released the following statement about the county’s rankings in a recent study of health in Wisconsin:
Kenosha County ranked 66th out of 72 counties in Health Outcomes and 61th in Health Factors, according to the new County Health Rankings report released today by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Rankings have ranked the health of Wisconsin counties annually since 2003. According to Cindy Johnson, Director/Health Officer of the Kenosha County Health Department, “The Rankings help us identify factors that directly impact the health of our residents and their ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The Rankings also provide a comparison to other counties in the state. With this knowledge, we can collaborate with our community partners and determine action steps which will 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 40th in health behaviors, 62nd in clinical care, 55th in social and economic factors, and 65th for physical environment with an overall ranking of 61st in Wisconsin. According to Ms. Johnson, many of these health factors are being addressed through the Healthy People Kenosha County 2020 initiative. 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 2012, but several sources are from 2009 and even 2007.
