County Health Rankings Show Range of Health Issues in CDHD’s Counties

Annual Rankings Give Idaho Counties Roadmap to Improve Health

According to the annual County Health Rankings, released today by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Ada County is the healthiest of the four counties of the Central District Health Department. Overall Ada County came in 5th of the 42 Idaho counties ranked, followed by Valley County at number 11, Elmore County at 25th and Boise County at 27th.

This is the second year of the County Health Rankings, described by the authors as the most comprehensive report of its kind to rank the overall health of nearly every county in all 50 states by using a standard way to measure how healthy people are and how long they live. The Rankings helps everyone see how where people live, learn, work and play influence how healthy they are and how long they live.

According to this year’s Rankings, the 10 healthiest counties in Idaho, starting with most healthy, are Madison, Latah, Franklin, Blaine, Ada, Jefferson, Kootenai, Idaho, Fremont, Teton. The 10 counties in the poorest health, starting with least healthy, are Lewis, Shoshone, Butte, Gooding, Payette, Lincoln, Bear Lake, Minidoka, Clearwater, Jerome.

“The County Health Rankings provide an interesting snapshot of the health of people in the counties we serve,” said CDHD Deputy Director Cindy Trail. “We view the findings as broad measures of health issues and we use them to help map strategies for improving the health of people in our counties.”

A few of the areas of interest from the Rankings:

Though Ada County ranked 5th overall, its physical environment was ranked 42nd in the state, primarily because of unhealthy air quality and a perceived lack of recreational facilities.
Ada County ranked first and Valley County 3rd for access to critical care, while Elmore County was 35th and Boise County was 28th.
24% of Valley County residents smoke, the highest of our 4 counties.
Elmore County had the highest rates of Chlamydia infection and teen births in the CDHD area of influence.
Access to healthy foods varied widely, from a low of 40% of Elmore County residents, to a high of 81% of Ada County residents.

The Rankings are designed to help counties see what is affecting the health of their residents so they can see where they are doing well and where they need improvement. Even without the Rankings CDHD has been addressing some of the health needs identified through this study.

Written into CDHD’s Strategic Plan are priorities to decrease tobacco use and obesity. Further CDHD is working to improve the health of our communities through a variety of initiatives ranging from improving immunization rates to decreasing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The County Health Rankings reinforce the efforts already underway to promote healthy people in healthy communities throughout Central District Health.

For more information, please visit www.countyhealthrankings.org.