Small Town News

County one of least healthy in state

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Mason County is one of the least healthy counties in Washington state, according to a recently released nationwide public health survey.

In terms of overall health, Mason County ranked 37 out of 39 counties in Washington state, according to the County Health Rankings study conducted by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Foundation.

The county also scored poorly on health factors like obesity, teenage pregnancy and adult smoking, where Mason County's whopping 26 percent of adults who smoke surpassed the state's overall average of 18 percent.

"The risks are probably pretty accurate," said Vicki Kirkpatrick, director of Mason County Public Health. "If you look at Mason County and others in that lower third, we're among counties where unemployment is higher than the statewide average."

Factors like the low high-school graduation numbers and the high unemployment that troubles Mason County contribute significantly to lower health rankings, Kirkpatrick said.

"The survey sort of confirmed with data what we at Public Health have seen an-ecdotally," she said. "People with lower socio-economic status tend to smoke more, and these are areas we need to work on."

The rankings corroborated Public Health's own 2009-2010 report card, comparing Mason County's health status with the nation's Healthy People 2010 goals.

While some of the nation's goals were met -- 67 percent of Mason County adults reported getting at least five days' worth of moderate exercise, higher than the 50 percent nationwide goal -- others fell short: 65 percent of Mason County adults remain overweight or obese; the nation's goal is 40 percent.

"It's an opportunity for a call to action," Kirkpatrick said. "What Public Health is interested in is what we can do to impact or prevent tobacco use, alcohol use, unsafe sex and other unhealthy behaviors ... It really is a question to the community as a whole."

Public Health's Community Health Task Force will look at areas where Mason County could improve its rankings and report card scores, Kirkpatrick said.

Right now, the task force has identified three specific health issues it wants to focus on: immunizations, oral health and obesity.

"Our goal is to make it better," said Peggy Van-Buskirk, a member of the task force and an ex-officio member of the board of health. "We know where we're at and we want to try to improve it."

Without newer statistics data from the county health rankings was culled between 2002 and 2008 - it's harder to see what is actually going on in Mason County, VanBuskirk §aid.

The task force is in the process of seeing what's out there and what's available, like what the state of nutrition and exercise is at the schools.

Before the task force can move on to actual outreach, like making sure the community understands obesity risks, "we need to gather more information," Vanbuskirk said,

"Income, education, unemployment - all that plays such a huge role in health," she said. "It's a pile of layers and layers and layers, and it's hard to get to the bottom ... we're hoping that we can change that just with educating people."

Public Health officials are working on collecting more up-to-date health data, Kirkpatrick said.

"I'm anxious to get new data and see if we've had any changes or improvements," she said. "This is an opportunity for Mason County to decide where we want to be. Being 37 out of 39 counties for mortality and morbidity stats: Are we OK with that?"

To see how Mason County ranked among other counties in Washington state, visit: http/www.countyhealthrankings.org/washington/mason.



Copyright 2010 Shelton-Mason County Journal, Shelton, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 Shelton-Mason County Journal Shelton, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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