Holland, Mich.
Ottawa County is number one in Michigan’s 83 counties when it comes to health outcomes, according to 2016 County Health Rankings.
The annual rankings from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute show where counties do well and where there are opportunities for improvement. Health outcome is determined by how long people live and how healthy people feel while alive, which is measured by 35 subcategories.
Since 2014, Ottawa County improved or maintained in 85 percent of the 35 indicators that make up the health outcome rating. The county also maintained or improved in 69 percent of the 35 measures, met or exceeded 34 percent of the target values for the 35 measures, and did as well or better than the entire state in 80 percent of the 35 measures.
A few changes from 2015 to the 2016 rankings are:
— Health behaviors, which includes categories like smoking, consumption of alcohol, obesity and physical inactivity, went from a three to a four.
— Clinical care, which includes people without health insurance and ratio of health care providers to population, went from a three to a seven.
— Social and economic factors, which include level of education, level of poverty and ratio of income inequality, went from a three to a one.
— Physical environment, which include air pollution, drinking water violations and housing cost, went from 40 to 39. It’s Ottawa County’s best score yet in the sub-ranking, though still their lowest sub-ranking due to air quality and high-housing costs.
The overall numbers were strengthened by low overall mortality, low numbers of low birth weight babies, low adult smoking and low unemployment.
“It’s a real community effort,” said Ottawa County Department of Public Health communication specialist Kristina Wieghmink. “We have several organizations within the community who help contribute and help develop programs to address the health needs of Ottawa County and really take action to where there are areas of concern.
There are also opportunities for improvement identified in the report. Ottawa County had the highest score in excessive drinking and average number of poor mental health days. Population to health care provider ratios improved, but are still worse than both Michigan overall and the target value.
Wieghmink said county public health works on identifying areas of improvement, based on surveys and studies done locally and on a national level like the County Health Rankings.
“Our recent community health needs assessment showed us the top needs in Ottawa County are access and treatment to mental health, access to health care and health behaviors, which focuses on nutrition and physical activity,” Wieghmink said.
She said the county has a community health improvement plan, whicn involves various persons and organizations looking at these areas of concern and coming up with different strategies to improve county health.
Date: March 22, 2016