A national report on county health rankings shows Warren County to be the 27th healthiest county in Kentucky.
Released last week, the report assesses the health of each American county based on a number of benchmarks, with data that includes the percentage of uninsured adults in each county, the extent of adult obesity in each county and other statistics.
The report was compiled by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, with the aim of calling attention to recognizing how factors outside medical care influence health, as well as getting more people involved in understanding the community’s health problems and improving community health.
Warren County ranked 27th out of Kentucky’s 120 counties overall. Much of the data shows Warren County performing at or slightly better than the average figures for Kentucky but worse than national benchmarks.
One in five adults surveyed in Warren County reported being in poor or fair health, compared with 10 percent nationwide and 22 percent in Kentucky. Also, 28 percent of the adult population in Warren County are smokers and 29 percent of Warren County adults are obese.
Figures for smoking and obesity in the county track nearly identically with state averages, but are higher than national benchmarks in both categories.
Warren County has one of the largest proportions of uninsured adults in the state, with 26 percent of adults younger than 65 who have no insurance. Only five other counties have the same or higher rates of uninsured.
“I think the numbers sort of confirm what we continue to know about Kentucky and the challenges as it relates to various aspects of health status,” said Dennis Chaney, director of the Barren River District Health Department. “The numbers affirm for us the barriers that we know exist.”
Chaney said economic barriers have a direct impact on a person’s ability to have good health and access to health care.
Despite the relatively high proportion of uninsured, Warren County ranks 19th in the state in access to primary care providers, with one provider available for every 896 people. The county outperforms the state average of one provider per 922 people, but lags behind the national benchmark of one primary care provider per 631 people.
“We have health resource richness in Warren County compared to some of our rural counties,” said Chaney, pointing out how rural counties without a community hospital, such as Metcalfe County, could be more susceptible to having barriers to good health. “In counties where physicians may not be as plentiful, there are access issues. If an individual needs to see a specialist in Warren County ... the travel expense could actually be a barrier to health.”
Chaney said the study highlights the importance of community leaders uniting to improve overall public health.
The health department is in discussion with Commonwealth Health Corp., which operates The Medical Center, and other entities to collaborate on a community health assessment project, according to Chaney.
The project would get under way in the fall, Chaney said, and may involve combining assessment of existing health data with going into communities in the eight counties served by the health district and seeking public input on the most important community health needs.
“We have met with Mr. Chaney to discuss this process and the public health departments have done this in the past, and so this time we hope to all work together to generate a very complete and thorough community needs assessment,” said CHC Vice President Doris Thomas.
The hospital, through its Health and Wellness Center at Greenwood Mall and other outlets, has offered several wellness and disease prevention programs that average more than 1,000 patrons a month, Thomas said.
Those programs include free blood pressure checks and blood sugar screenings, smoking cessation classes and the Healthy Kids program, which focuses on pediatric health issues.
“The Medical Center has been involved in promoting wellness and disease prevention ... for many years and this will just be the next step,” Thomas said of the proposed community assessment.
— To see all the data for Warren County, go to www.countyhealthrankings.org/kentucky/warren.
