Lake County's Health Record Nothing to Sneeze At

A public health report card that grades the health of America's counties has ranked Lake County among the healthiest counties in Illinois.

The report card, developed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, ranked Lake County eighth out of 102 counties in Illinois on health outcomes measured by mortality (length of life) and morbity (quality of life), and ranked Lake County fourth on health factors measured by health behaviors, clinical care, socio/economic factors and physical environment.

"While we are pleased that Lake County is ranked among the healthiest counties in the state, this report card also sheds light on things public health still needs to work on at a local level to make this county a healthier place to live and work," said Irene Pierce, the Health Department's Executive Director.

Lake County has yet to reach national benchmark standards in several areas, including healthcare provider/patient ratios, according to the report. The national benchmark rate of population to primary care providers is 631 to one.  Lake County's rate of population to primary care providers is 756 to one.

Another area where Lake County still needs to improve is in sexually transmitted infection prevention. In the report, the sexually transmitted infection rate is measured as chlamydia incidence (the number of new cases reported) per 100,000 population.

While Lake County's chlamydia incidence is 355, the national benchmark standard is 83. Adult smoking, teen birth rates and excessive drinking are additional areas the county still needs to work on to reach national benchmark standards.

This is the second year of the County Health Rankings, 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. 

The top 10 healthiest counties in Illinois, in addition to Lake, include Kendall, DuPage, Woodford, McHenry, Jo Daviess, Monroe, McDonough, Kane, and Henry, according to the report.

The 10 counties in the poorest health were Hardin, Pulaski, Alexander, Edwards, Saline, Franklin, St. Clair, Vermilion, Marion and Pope. The healthiest of Illinois' 102 counties continue to be clustered in the northern region of the state; the least healthy counties are sprinkled primarily in the southernmost region of Illinois.

The Rankings are a tool to help Illinois understand and act on health issues, at the local, county, and state level.

"Lake County conducts a community health assessment and community health plan with partners and stakeholders every five years," said Pierce. "The Rankings help our community stakeholders in education, economic development, housing and other areas understand how they contribute to improving health in our community."

The Rankings, available at www.countyhealthrankings.org, includes a snapshot of each county in Illinois, with a color-coded map comparing each county's overall health ranking. Researchers used five measures to assess the level of overall health or "health outcomes" for Illinois by county: the rate of people dying before age 75, the percent of people who report being in fair or poor health, the numbers of days people report being in poor physical and poor mental health, and the rate of low-birth weight infants.

The Rankings also looks at factors that affect people's health within four categories: health behavior, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment. Among the many health factors they looked at: rates of adult smoking, adult obesity, excessive drinking among adults, and teenage births; the number of uninsured adults, availability of primary care providers, and preventable hospital stays; rates of high school graduation, adults who have attended college, children in poverty; and community safety; access to healthy foods and air pollution levels.

 For more information, visit www.countyhealthrankings.org