Study ranks Putnam 12th healthiest Indiana county

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Putnam County falls just outside the top 10 in a new list ranking the overall health for all 92 Indiana counties by using a standard formula to measure how healthy people are and how long they live.

With its 12th-place ranking for 2014, Putnam County slipped from the top 10 after posting a 10th-place rating in 2013.

Still, Putnam outpaced all but Hendricks (which was second) among contiguous counties this year in rating health outcomes, according to the fifth annual County Health Rankings.

Clay County came in at No. 27, followed in the area by Parke (39), Morgan (40), Montgomery (41) and Owen (51).

For the second consecutive year, Hamilton, Hendricks and Boone counties top the Indiana list. For 2014, the 10 healthiest Hoosier counties based on health outcomes are Hamilton, Hendricks, Boone, LaGrange, Brown, Dubois, Wells, Monroe, Whitley and Tippecanoe.

The bottom 10 counties, compiling the lowest ranking for health outcomes, are Delaware, Lawrence, Sullivan, Orange, Jennings, Starke, Crawford, Blackford, Fayette and Scott.

The rankings were released Thursday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

"Health habits start first in the home and are supported through neighborhoods, community coalitions, business, education and government," Indiana State Health Commissioner William VanNess said. "So, it's not surprising to see that those counties with the infrastructure to support residents' health have the most positive health outcomes.

"These rankings demonstrate that where you live matters," he added. "We can all do our part to make our communities healthier places to live, work and play."

Putnam County's best showing was in the Health Outcomes category, coming in 12th overall with a No. 11 ranking for quality of life and No. 19 rating for length of life within that overall grouping.

Its next-best showing was a 36th spot in Health Behaviors, which includes such factors as adult smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, excessive drinking, teen births and access to exercise opportunities.

The county was 38th overall in both Physical Environment and Social and Economic Factors.

Factors used for the Physical Environment ranking include air pollution, drinking water, severe housing problems, driving alone to work and long commutes.

Among the factors comprising the Social and Economic ranking are high school graduation, unemployment, children in poverty, children in single-parent households, violent crime and injury deaths.

Putnam County was 39th overall in the Health Factors category and 50th for Clinical Care, which takes in to consideration such factors as uninsured residents, primary care physicians, preventable hospital stays, mental health providers and diabetic and mammography screenings.

The report measures the overall health of nearly every county in all 50 states, providing county-to-county comparisons within each state.

Rankings allow counties to see how well they are doing on 29 factors that influence health, including smoking, high school graduation rates, employment, physical inactivity and access to healthy foods.

Nationally, this year's rankings show that people living in the least healthy counties are twice as likely to have shorter lives as people living in the healthiest counties. Unhealthy counties also have twice as many children living in poverty and twice as many teen births as the healthiest counties.

"The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's vision for a culture of health is one where everyone has the opportunity to be healthy," Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, RWJF president, said. "The County Health Rankings are a starting point for change, helping communities come together, identify priorities, and create solutions that will help all in our diverse society live healthier lives, now and for generations to come."

That is also the goal for Indiana, Dr.VanNess said.

"Everyone has a role in advancing overall health outcomes," he added. "I encourage community, business, faith and government leaders in each county to use the 2014 County Health Rankings as a tool to learn which factors are negatively impacting your community's health and then look for resources and partnerships to address those needs."

For more about information or to view the report, persons can visit www.countyhealthrankings.org.

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