Friday, March 19, 2010
 
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County health rankings released

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[March 19, 2010]  A new report that ranks Illinois counties according to population-based health measures of illness and death rates indicates that Logan County compares favorably with other counties in Illinois with respect to community health factors. Logan County ranked 38 out of 101 counties reviewed in the state of Illinois when comparing health outcomes.

Hardware"Overall we are pleased with this report, but the county has some work to do with respect to health behaviors," said Mark Hilliard, public health administrator for the Logan County Department of Public Health. Logan County ranked 89 out of 101 counties in health behaviors.

The online report, available at www.countyhealthrankings.org, includes a snapshot of each county in Illinois with a color-coded map comparing each county's overall health ranking. Researchers used five measures to assess the level of overall health or "health outcomes": the rate of people dying before age 75, the percent of people who report being in fair or poor health, the numbers of days people report being in poor physical and poor mental health, and the rate of low birth weight infants.

"This report belongs to everyone and is important because it shows us that where we live matters to our health," Hilliard said. "The health of a community depends on many different factors -- ranging from individual health behaviors to quality of health care, to education and jobs, to access to healthy foods, and to the quality of the air. With these rankings in multiple health factors, the Logan County community can take steps to improve the health of our residents.

"We will be using this report in the coming weeks to assist with a community health needs assessment, and this report gives us information we can use to work with key community stakeholders to investigate programs and policy changes that can improve health in Logan County."

(Logan County report)

[Text from file received from the Logan County Department of Public Health]

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