Did you see this story published in the Tampa Tribune a couple of months ago?  Are you suprised or disappointed at where the Tampa Bay area counties fell in the overall health rankings of Florida counties?  The bottom line??  While you can’t control 100% of your environment, you CAN control a lot.  If YOU don’t care about your health and well-being, who will?

TAMPA – The state’s healthiest residents don’t live in the Tampa Bay area, according to a new comprehensive ranking of community health.

Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties all ranked near the middle in many of the 30 medical, environmental and social criteria used to determine the national County Health Rankings, released in early February by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

While the report isn’t the first to examine health at the county level, it is the first to use a standard formula to measure the overall health of every county in the United States.

The ranking compares general health data, such as life expectancy, with outside factors, such as the unemployment rate, childhood poverty, air pollution and access to grocery stores. All of the data come from government or established surveys taken this decade.

The report is designed to compare the health of counties within each state; it doesn’t compare Florida counties with counties in other states.

Florida’s results show that wealthier, suburban areas, such as Collier and Sarasota counties, appear better off. Those struggling most: poor, rural pockets, including Union, Putnam and Levy counties.

Hillsborough health officials say their county’s ranking is not a surprise, given that its more than 1 million residents run the gamut when it comes to health and wealth. The county’s resident life expectancy ranked 20th out of 67 counties, while it ranked 31st in health behaviors such as tobacco use, diet and exercise.

The national report — at www.countyhealthrankings.org — includes every county in all 50 states. That’s a total of 3,000 snapshots, said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“When communities have information to pinpoint problems, they have a better chance at solving the problems they face,” she said.

Hillsborough County Health Department spokesman Steve Huard said data used in the reports already are part of community-improvement efforts, including a five-year strategic planning session taking place next week with health department director Doug Holt. The groups helping draft the plan represent health, education, government and business.

“We’ve got to look at our community without blinders,” Huard said. “Take a 360-degree view of everything. That’s the only way we can improve.”

A collaborative approach is critical to improve any or all aspects of a population’s health, said Andrew Webber, president and CEO, National Business Coalition on Health. He said when employees are sick and medical costs rise, health becomes a business issue.

“This has to be a team sport,” he said “This is not something we throw to public health departments and say, ‘Take care of this for us.’ ”

The rankings compare counties within each state, but not to the rest of the nation, said Dr. Patrick Remington of the University of Wisconsin, which started ranking its state’s counties in 2003 and co-authored the new 50-state report.

Some clear trends emerge when looking at each state’s best and worst, Remington said. The least-healthy counties tend to be poor and rural, and the healthiest ones tend to be urban or suburban and upper-income.

Overall, the report found the least-healthy counties have childhood poverty rates more than three times higher than the healthiest counties. Residents of the least-healthy counties are 60 percent more likely to be hospitalized for preventable conditions, a sign of poor primary care.

The report also raises questions about whether a poor community negatively influences its residents’ health, or whether the community becomes unhealthy because it’s where high-risk populations — people who lack health care or are more likely to smoke, for example — can afford to move.

Remington said it’s a combination of factors. He pointed to Menominee County, ranked last in Wisconsin with 15 percent of its residents in poor or fair health and a high rate of premature death. It’s an Indian reservation, and the entire county has no grocery store to counter the fast-food restaurants and convenience stores there, he said.

“Without a grocery store, it’s hard to make a healthy choice about what you’re going to eat for lunch or dinner,” Remington said.
How the Tampa Bay area ranked

Here are local rankings in six key areas, assessed by the County Health Rankings program. The rankings are based on data from 67 Florida counties.

Mortality, or the length of life, based on expectations of a 75-year life span:
• Hillsborough, 20
• Pinellas, 26
• Pasco, 36
• Polk, 37

Morbidity or the quality of life, affected by poor physical and mental health:
• Polk, 27
• Pinellas, 28
• Hillsborough, 37
• Pasco, 39

Health behaviors, such as tobacco use and diet and exercise:
• Pasco, 15
• Pinellas, 23
• Hillsborough, 31
• Polk, 45

Access and quality of clinical care:
• Pinellas, 15
• Hillsborough, 17
• Pasco, 26
• Polk, 42

Social and economic factors, including education, income and community safety:
• Hillsborough, 27
• Pasco, 31
• Pinellas, 40
• Polk, 45

Physical environment, including the quality of air:
• Pinellas, 19
• Polk, 43
• Pasco, 47
• Hillsborough, 63

Take charge of your health.  Get educated.  Ask questions.  Seek help.  Remmel Wellness Center is here for you ~ whether it be through the information we provide on our blogs or through the variety of health and wellness services we provide in our office.  Check it out at www.remmelwellness.com.

Content provided by Laurie Puckett, Remmel Wellness Center, a full service chiropractic and wellness center in St. Petersburg, Florida.