Medina County a healthy place to live
Robert Woods Johnson study finds people here enjoy above average health
One factor contributing to Medina County’s good health ranking is easy access to exercise opportunities like the YMCA in Wadsworth where personal trainer Burga Shepherd (left) gives some tips to a new client. File photo
MEDINA – Medina County remains one of the healthiest place to live in Ohio, according to the latest health rankings compiled by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin.
The foundation’s 2017 report ranked Medina County fifth highest among Ohio’s 88 counties in health outcomes and fourth in health factors such as access to medical care, exercise and diet, income, education, environment and other things that contribute to a healthy population.
Those factors are summarized in two major categories in the study: health outcomes and health factors. Medina County ranked fifth in both categories last year and has been ranked as high as third in previous years.
Once again, Delaware, Geauga, Putnam and Union counties ranked one through four in the rankings for Ohio in this year’s report from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, just as they did last year.
The least healthiest counties in this year’s rankings are Pike, Adams, Scioto, Gallia and Jackson counties all located in Southern Ohio.
“Since the first county rankings in 2010, Medina County has consistently ranked fifth or higher. Medina County residents have several protective factors that contribute to our stable ranking, such as education, employment and income level,” said Krista Wasowski, Medina County health commissioner. “While this provides us a stable ranking when compared to other counties in Ohio, there are still areas that we can collectively address as a community to ensure our residents have a solid basis for the health of them and their families.”
The rankings provide comparisons to other counties, the state of Ohio and top performers across the country. “This provides a goal for our country regardless of our rank.,” said Wasowski. “For example, 17 percent of Medina County adults smoke. This is below the state percentage if 22 percent, but greater than the top performer percentage of 14 percent.”
Published online at countyhealthrankings.org, the rankings help counties understand what influences how healthy residents are and how long they will live. The rankings are unique in their ability to measure the current overall health of nearly every county in all 50 states.
They also look at a variety of measures that affect the future health of communities, such as high school graduation rates, access to healthy foods, rates of smoking, obesity and teen births.
Here’s where Medina County ranked among all Ohio counties on some of the health factors researched in the Robert Wood Johnson report:
• Length of life – 4
• Quality of life – 6
• Health behaviors – 4
• Clinical care – 4
• Social and economic factors – 4
• Physical environment – 81
The physical environment measures factors such as air pollution, water quality, housing problems and driving alone to work and driving a long distance to work. Long, lonely commutes for many Medina County residents accounted for the high ranking in that category.
Quality of life considers the number of sick days for average county residents and low birth weights for newborns. Although Medina County gets a good rank in this category, Wasowski points out the county is below average in the numbers of physicians, dentists and mental health providers practicing here.
Health factors in Medina County that are near the statewide average but trending higher in recent years are the levels of adult obesity and the number of deaths due to alcohol-impaired driving.
Twenty-nine percent of Medina County adults are considered obese and 40 percent of all driving deaths here have alcohol as a contributing factor.
The number of sexually transmitted infections in Medina County has also been climbing in recent years. The study found 186 cases per 100,000 people last year, up from 79 in 2007 and 107 in 2010.
About 9 percent of Medina County children were living in poverty last year, which is well below the statewide average of 21 percent and below even the 12 percent average for the top performers in the country. However, the childhood poverty rate here has also been rising, according to the new study. It was as low as 5 percent in 2002.
Areas in which Medina County has seen improvement in recent years include the number of residents without health insurance (7 percent), the number of preventable hospital stays per 100,000 people (51), high school graduation rate (96 percent) and air pollution which has seen particulate matter drop from 17 micrograms per cubic meter of air in 2002 to 11.7 micrograms last year.
The foundation’s 2017 report ranked Medina County fifth highest among Ohio’s 88 counties in health outcomes and fourth in health factors such as access to medical care, exercise and diet, income, education, environment and other things that contribute to a healthy population.
Those factors are summarized in two major categories in the study: health outcomes and health factors. Medina County ranked fifth in both categories last year and has been ranked as high as third in previous years.
Once again, Delaware, Geauga, Putnam and Union counties ranked one through four in the rankings for Ohio in this year’s report from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, just as they did last year.
The least healthiest counties in this year’s rankings are Pike, Adams, Scioto, Gallia and Jackson counties all located in Southern Ohio.
“Since the first county rankings in 2010, Medina County has consistently ranked fifth or higher. Medina County residents have several protective factors that contribute to our stable ranking, such as education, employment and income level,” said Krista Wasowski, Medina County health commissioner. “While this provides us a stable ranking when compared to other counties in Ohio, there are still areas that we can collectively address as a community to ensure our residents have a solid basis for the health of them and their families.”
The rankings provide comparisons to other counties, the state of Ohio and top performers across the country. “This provides a goal for our country regardless of our rank.,” said Wasowski. “For example, 17 percent of Medina County adults smoke. This is below the state percentage if 22 percent, but greater than the top performer percentage of 14 percent.”
Published online at countyhealthrankings.org, the rankings help counties understand what influences how healthy residents are and how long they will live. The rankings are unique in their ability to measure the current overall health of nearly every county in all 50 states.
They also look at a variety of measures that affect the future health of communities, such as high school graduation rates, access to healthy foods, rates of smoking, obesity and teen births.
Here’s where Medina County ranked among all Ohio counties on some of the health factors researched in the Robert Wood Johnson report:
• Length of life – 4
• Quality of life – 6
• Health behaviors – 4
• Clinical care – 4
• Social and economic factors – 4
• Physical environment – 81
The physical environment measures factors such as air pollution, water quality, housing problems and driving alone to work and driving a long distance to work. Long, lonely commutes for many Medina County residents accounted for the high ranking in that category.
Quality of life considers the number of sick days for average county residents and low birth weights for newborns. Although Medina County gets a good rank in this category, Wasowski points out the county is below average in the numbers of physicians, dentists and mental health providers practicing here.
Health factors in Medina County that are near the statewide average but trending higher in recent years are the levels of adult obesity and the number of deaths due to alcohol-impaired driving.
Twenty-nine percent of Medina County adults are considered obese and 40 percent of all driving deaths here have alcohol as a contributing factor.
The number of sexually transmitted infections in Medina County has also been climbing in recent years. The study found 186 cases per 100,000 people last year, up from 79 in 2007 and 107 in 2010.
About 9 percent of Medina County children were living in poverty last year, which is well below the statewide average of 21 percent and below even the 12 percent average for the top performers in the country. However, the childhood poverty rate here has also been rising, according to the new study. It was as low as 5 percent in 2002.
Areas in which Medina County has seen improvement in recent years include the number of residents without health insurance (7 percent), the number of preventable hospital stays per 100,000 people (51), high school graduation rate (96 percent) and air pollution which has seen particulate matter drop from 17 micrograms per cubic meter of air in 2002 to 11.7 micrograms last year.