First Posted: 3/24/2015
LIMA — It seems Allen County hasn’t been paying much attention to Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, or a slew of other hyper-local efforts.
According to the latest County Health Rankings report from the Robert Wood Johnson County Health Ratings report and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, it isn’t that locals don’t have the ability or resources to get active. Instead, adults just seem to be struggling to find a reason to get healthy.
The mentality might be part of the reason why of Ohio’s 88 counties, Allen County earned a ranking of 35 in health outcomes, based on average length and quality of life, and the ranking of 74 in health factors, elements that influence a county population’s health, such as healthy behaviours such as working out, clinical availability and use, and social, economic and physical environmental factors.
“It’s a way to illustrate where we live matters to our health,” said assistant researcher Stephanie Johnson. “Its an opportunity to raise awareness and start conversations in communities that may need some improvement.”
The placement is a bit of an overall improvement from last year’s, which was 39, allowing the county to return to its 2013 rank — the best score received since the report’s conception in 2011.
Allen County Health Commissioner Kathy Luhn said the biggest challenge has been healthy behavior, such as smoking, obesity, physical activity, sexual activity or teen births.
“It drives home that there’s no one answer in helping people be healthier,” she said.
Though the rate of obesity and smoking has stayed steady the past five years in Allen County at 37 percent, the percent of physically inactive adults has continued to slowly increase over the past five years, at 30 percent in 2015 and 27 percent in 2012.
The number of inactive residents surprised Ronda Lehman, the chief operating officer of St. Rita’s Professional Services, especially because the number of exercise and physical activity opportunities in the county have increased to 77 percent with a number of new gyms, paths and community outreach programs.
The report also showed a decrease in food environment or the variety and availability of healthy food for residents, despite local efforts like a healthy food truck and education or cooking classes offered.
The disconnect isn’t just specific to the county, it’s a national issue, said Mike Swick, the president and CEO of Lima Memorial Health System.
“It’s hard to get people to change their lifestyle if there’s not a reason to do it,” he said. “The question right now is how do you get people to take responsibility for their own health?”
Swick said its also important to take into account education and socioeconomic factors, which contribute to people’s ability to access or even afford a healthy lifestyle and care. In which case, local organizations are looking for ways to get into schools to help educate and encourage students, similar to St. Rita’s efforts to send athletic trainers to local schools, or Lima Memorial representatives’ school visits, as well as efforts to maintain and create new jobs.
“A big part is education and awareness,” he said.
Luhn said the health department is focusing on a variety of health risks and working on multiple programs to improve mental health, overall support and the encouragement of preventative health care — one of the biggest factors contributing to changes in the health care climate.
“The health department is trying to get across that health starts before illness; when you’re at home, at your job, at school,” she said.
Lehman said the goal of preventative health care is to enable people to take an active role in their own health by creating and using opportunities to do so, such as St. Rita’s weight management program.
“It’s a cultural and mindset change,” Lehman said. “These aren’t the changes that happen over night they’re the changes that come from instilling a whole new habit and practice within families and the community. We have to be in it for the long haul.”
For that reason, Lehman said she wouldn’t be discouraged by the yearly reports at all.
“It’s just a snapshot,” she said.
In fact, Luhn said the county has and will continue to make improvements. For example, the county has seen a decrease in the number of premature deaths, also a national trend. The number of children in poverty has decreased over time as well, now the same as state percentages as national averages increase. The amount of violent crime and sexually transmitted diseases have also seen a small decrease, as have alcohol-related deaths and teen births.
Even with small victories, health officials still realize problems remain in overall health, having yet to break into the top 10 in the state, Delaware being the best, followed by Putnam County. Auglaize was ranked as ninth. Lawrence County was the worst.
To help further efforts, the health department has been working on and will release a more in depth look at health issues in the “Allen County Health Risk and Community Needs Assessment” expected to publish April 16, encompassing information from 2009, when the last report came out, until 2014.
“We have a ways to go and we have our work cut out for us,” Luhn said. “But I think we’re making progress.”
