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The Kansas Health Institute hopes to stimulate an ongoing discussion about the health of Kansans and the factors that influence it with their recent report, “Kansas County Health Rankings 2009.”
The researchers at the Institute have released a first-of-its-kind measurement of the health status of 105 Kansas counties.
Butler County ranked 40. Not bad.
Many people do not realize that the factors that most powerfully influence our health have little to do with health care provided in doctors’ offices and hospitals.
Carol Borger, director of the Butler County Health Department, advises, “Being healthy is more than visiting a doctor’s office or not being sick.
“ It is many things such as seat belt use, tobacco/alcohol use, diet and exercise, education of the population, social support as well as air and water quality...we can do better in the areas addressed in the report.
“It will take all of us, elected officials, physicians, the business community, the health care community and public health all talking together to begin to make changes, positive changes for all of us now and in the future,” she said.
Because we all know that health is more than just the absence of disease, the rankings were based on 31 indicators that measured everything from the prevalence of binge drinking to the number of flu vaccinations and visits to the dentist.
Other areas compared are behavior, physical environment, social and economic factors and access to health care.
This broad approach to measuring the health of Kansans is meant to generate discussion at the community, county and state levels about ways to improve our health.
Borger said the report is being shared with county officials and she expects a future meeting to discuss the findings.
“I am pleased we are ranked at this level. It does show we are doing some things right and are headed in the right directions. We can improve,” she said.
Kansas County Health Rankings 2009 -- Technical Document is available at www.khi.org.
The Kansas Health Institute hopes to stimulate an ongoing discussion about the health of Kansans and the factors that influence it with their recent report, “Kansas County Health Rankings 2009.”
The researchers at the Institute have released a first-of-its-kind measurement of the health status of 105 Kansas counties.
Butler County ranked 40. Not bad.
Many people do not realize that the factors that most powerfully influence our health have little to do with health care provided in doctors’ offices and hospitals.
Carol Borger, director of the Butler County Health Department, advises, “Being healthy is more than visiting a doctor’s office or not being sick.
“ It is many things such as seat belt use, tobacco/alcohol use, diet and exercise, education of the population, social support as well as air and water quality...we can do better in the areas addressed in the report.
“It will take all of us, elected officials, physicians, the business community, the health care community and public health all talking together to begin to make changes, positive changes for all of us now and in the future,” she said.
Because we all know that health is more than just the absence of disease, the rankings were based on 31 indicators that measured everything from the prevalence of binge drinking to the number of flu vaccinations and visits to the dentist.
Other areas compared are behavior, physical environment, social and economic factors and access to health care.
This broad approach to measuring the health of Kansans is meant to generate discussion at the community, county and state levels about ways to improve our health.
Borger said the report is being shared with county officials and she expects a future meeting to discuss the findings.
“I am pleased we are ranked at this level. It does show we are doing some things right and are headed in the right directions. We can improve,” she said.
Kansas County Health Rankings 2009 -- Technical Document is available at www.khi.org.
