Clallam County ranks 17th out of 39 counties in Washington state in terms of overall health of residents, while Jefferson County comes in a little healthier, in 11th place, in a national health report card released this week.
Clallam County residents are heavier, smoke more and are less educated than Jefferson County, said researchers with the 2010 County Health Rankings report, a joint project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
But the study ranked Jefferson County last in Washington state in physical environment factors.
While the statewide county average for premature deaths was 5,979, in Clallam County it was 7,496 and in Jefferson, 7,129.
The two counties were tied in the motor vehicle crash death rate, with 21 each, compared to the statewide county average of 12.
The healthiest county in the state was said to be the North Olympic Peninsula’s near neighbor to the northeast, San Juan, while the least healthiest is Ferry County, in eastern Washington.
According to the study’s Web site, www.countyhealthrankings.org, the researchers advise public health professionals and advocates to “look at their county’s ranking, see what is making their residents sick, and work with others to mobilize and develop broad-based solutions in their community so all residents can be healthy.”
Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson counties, said the Clallam County Board of Health reviewed the study Tuesday at its regular meeting.
‘Mixed bag’
The conclusion: ‘It’s a mixed bag,” he said.
“In general, these community health report-card-type studies have value; they are simplified, but as long as it’s consistent, it has value in highlighting potential problems,” he said.
“If they are done annually, they can provide trend data and show if health is getting better or worse.”
He called the report an “initial snapshot,” as it is the first year this study has included the entire nation.
Jean Baldwin, director of Jefferson County Public Health, did not return a request for comment Thursday.
The 2010 County Health Rankings report has been done in Wisconsin for a number of years, but this is the first time it has been extended nationwide.
The collection of 50 reports, one for each state, rank the overall health of each county.
It is designed to provide an overview of the general health of residents compared to other counties in each state, using factors such as diet and exercise, access to health care, employment and the environment.
Health factors
The set of health factors were then calculated to determine “health outcomes,” defined by length of life and quality of life.
Health factors are what influences the health of a county, while health outcomes represent how healthy a county is.
The health factors were divided into four categories.
• Health behaviors such as tobacco use, diet and exercise, alcohol use and unsafe sex
• Clinical care, both access to medical care and quality of care.
• Social and economic factors such as education, employment, income, family and social support and community safety.
• Physical environment, both environmental quality and the built environment.
The difference between Clallam and Jefferson counties was greater in the health factors rankings than the overall health outcomes rankings, with Jefferson ranking eighth place and Clallam coming in 21st.
Like all statistics, the study is open to interpretation.
Pollution
Locke pointed out that Jefferson County ranked last the state in physical environment, with factors including air pollution-particulate matter days, air pollution-ozone days, access to healthy foods and liquor store density.
“But I don’t think anyone would say Jefferson County is an unhealthy place to live,” he said. “There is a limitation to these things.”
Jefferson County recorded 10 days of particulate matter pollution days.
The state average was two days.
Clallam County had four measurable days of the same type of pollution and was ranked 13th in the state.
The state average for particulate matter pollution days was two.
Neither county had measurable ozone pollution days.
Health behaviors
Jefferson County fared better than Clallam in terms of health behaviors, ranking third compared to 15th for Clallam.
Contributing to that score was an obesity rating of 27 percent in Clallam County, compared to 21 percent in Jefferson.
But Clallam was not far off the state average of 26 percent.
In the social and economic factors ratings, Clallam ranked 25th while Jefferson ranked fifth statewide.
In that category, Jefferson’s graduation rate topped Clallam’s by 85 percent to 62 percent, beating the state average of 73 percent.
Locke said that health officials will add this study to a “small collection” of such studies, but have no plans to use it to make changes in public health policy.
“We look at it as a resource,” he said. “It’s useful in making decisions in prioritizing programs, but it’s not in and of itself decisive.”
It’s greatest value is in starting a community discussion, he said.
“If this raises questions, that starts a conversation about health and the health care systems in the counties,” he said. “Changing them is a very different matter.”
Also in the top 10 as the state’s healthiest counties were Douglas, Whitman, Kittitas, Island, King, Whatcom, Clark, Chelan and Snohomish counties.
Also in bottom ten, with the poorest health ranking, were Okanogan, Mason, Stevens, Asotin, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Yakima, Pend Oreille and Pacific.
The complete study results can be found online at www.countyhealthrankings.org.
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Features editor Marcie Miller can be reached at 360-417-3550 or marcie.miller@peninsuladailynews.com.