News Updates:

County Health Rankings-A Healthy Competition

The health competition between counties become more tough and interesting as the new researches on these counties have generated the new county health rankings.

This is not the comparison between the states but it is a healthy comparison of health facilities of these counties,where a county ranks within its state on health outcomes and on factors that influence health such as smoking, diet and exercise, poverty and access to health care.

Top one is the Allegent county which is the healthiest county of the Southwest Michigan. The Kalamazoo County is the second one who is straggling to become more healthier toward its future.

St. Joseph, Cass and Van Buren counties are also having good position in county health rankings reports. The Calhoun County is in the last position of top 10 on both fronts.

The researcher,associate dean for public health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Patrick Remington, “We hope this begins a process of determining how a county can improve its health”. He also said, “Each community needs to think about how you provide access to care for people with urgent health problems, but you also need to think about why people are getting sick in the first place.”

The director of Kalamazoo County’s Health and Community Services Department of Linda Vail Buzas said she was generally pleased with the county’s rankings. “For a county that has an urban core, which Kalamazoo does, we rank fairly well,” she said.