The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/292608
Briefs NARFE meeting today The National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) Patoka Valley Chapter #1847 will meet at noon, Wednesday, April 9 at the Schnitzelbank Res- taurant in Jasper. The speaker will be Terry Beadles. His topic will be scrimshaw. All active and retired federal employees and/ or their spouses are en- couraged to attend. Call Rita at 812-604-5089 for more information. Dates for Kindergarten Roundup, preschool screening set Kindergarten Round- up will be at the fol- lowing Pike County schools on the dates listed below: • Winslow Elementa- ry School: Friday, April 11. • Petersburg Ele- mentary School: Thurs- day, April 10, and Fri- day, April 11. Note: Must be 5 years of age by August 1, 2014. Preschool Screening will be at Petersburg El- ementary School on Fri- day, April 25. Must be 4 years of age by August 1, 2014. Parents are urged to call the school to regis- ter their child. The tele- phone numbers are: • Petersburg Elemen- tary School—354-6876 • Winslow Elemen- tary School —789 -2209 • Otwell Elementary School—354-2600 Kindergarten immunization clinic April 10-11 The Pike County Health Department will be holding Kindergar- ten Immunization Clin- ics, Thursday, April 10 and Friday, April 11, from 8:20 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 812-354-8797 to schedule an appoint- ment. Pike-Gibson Retired Teachers meet at Village Inn, Thursday The Pike-Gibson Re- tired Teachers Associ- ation will meet Thurs- day, Apr. 10, at the Vil- lage Inn on Hwy 57 South near Petersburg. The Meet-and-Greet session begins at 11 a.m. CDT/noon EDT. The meal will begin at 11:30 a.m. CDT and 12:30 p.m. EDT. Cal Biddle will report on the latest legislature news which affects re- tired teachers. Flea market at Blue Jeans Center A Flea Market will be at the Blue Jeans Com- munity Center in Mon- roe City, 1242 Main Street, Friday, April 11 from 5 to 8 p.m. and Sat- urday, April 12 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT. Admission is $1 and children under 12 are admitted free. For more information, call 812- 840 -0116. Circus returns to Winslow on Saturday, April 26 The Culpepper and Merriweather Circus is coming back to Win- slow on Saturday, April 26. The circus perfor- mances are being spon- sored by the Winslow Lions Club. The two performances will be at 2 and 4:30 p.m. Tickets are available from mem- bers of the Winslow Li- ons Club. The circus includes feats of daring, includ- ing trapeze and high- wire acts, as well as clowns and numerous animal acts, from cam- els to dogs. By Ed Cahill Tip O'Neill, who served in the U.S. House of Represen- tatives from 1953 to 1987, in- cluding the last 10 years as Speaker, is famous for say- ing that "all politics is local." So, too, apparently, is health. That's the conclusion of Indiana Health Commis- sioner William VanNess, M.D., after Hamilton, Hen- dricks and Boone counties topped the state in health outcomes, a ranking based on an equal weighting of length and quality of life, when the Robert Wood John- son Foundation and the Uni- versity of Wisconsin Popu- lation Health Institute re- leased their fifth annual County Health Rankings on Wednesday, March 26. The three counties al- so topped the list in health factors, a ranking based on weighted scores for health behaviors, clinical care, so- cial and economic factors, and the physical environ- ment. "Health habits start first in the home and are sup- ported through neighbor- hoods, community coali- tions, business, education and government, so it's not surprising to see that those counties with the infrastruc- ture to support resident's health have the most posi- tive health outcomes," Dr. VanNess said in a press re- lease. "These rankings dem- onstrate that where you live matters. We can all do our part to make our communi- ties healthier places to live, work and play." According to the report, Pike County ranked 67th out of Indiana's 92 counties in health outcomes, despite ranking 28th in health fac- tors. While Pike County saw its rankings slip from 64th in health outcomes and 21st in health factors in 2013, the latest ratings are still a considerable improvement over 2012, when the coun- ty ranked 91st in health out- comes and 30th in health factors. County Health Rankings measures the overall health of nearly every county in all 50 states, providing county- to-county comparisons with- in each state. It allows coun- ties to see how well they are doing on 29 factors that in- fluence health, including smoking, high school grad- uation rates, employment, physical inactivity, and ac- cess to healthy foods. In neighboring counties: • Daviess County ranked 50th in health outcomes and 43rd in health factors; • Dubois County ranked sixth in both health out- comes and health factors; • Gibson County ranked 35th in health outcomes and 19th in health factors; • Knox County ranked 82nd in health outcomes and 66th in health factors; and • Warrick County ranked 20th in health outcomes and fourth in health factors. According to this year's Rankings, the 10th healthi- est counties based on health outcomes were Hamil- ton, Hendricks, Boone, La- Grange, Brown, Dubois, Wells, Monroe, Whitley and Tippecanoe. The 10 counties with the lowest ranking for health outcomes were Del- aware, Lawrence, Sullivan, Orange, Jasper, Starke, Crawford, Blackford, Fay- ette and Scott. "The Robert Wood John- son Foundation's vision for a culture of health is one where everyone has the op- portunity to be healthy," said Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, RWJF president and CEO. "The County Health Rank- ings are a starting point for change, helping communi- ties come together, identify priorities, and create solu- tions that will help all in our diverse society live healthi- er lives, now and for gener- ations to come." "Everyone has a role in ad- vancing overall health out- comes," Dr. VanNess added. "I encourage community, business, faith and govern- ment leaders in each coun- ty to use the County Health Rankings as a tool to learn which factors are negative- ly impacting your communi- ty's health and then look for resources and partnerships to address those needs." healTh ouTcomes According to the report, Pike County ranked 40th in the state in premature death with 7,361 years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,000 population. The state average was 7,520 years. "Your premature death years loss is lower than the state average, but where you get lost is in the quality of life measure," said Kristin Adams, director of the Indi- ana Department of Health's Office of Public Health Per- formance. "That's what takes the hit for you." Pike County ranked 87th in the state in quality of life, with 22 percent of the adults surveyed reporting their general health status as fair or poor, which was 37.5 per- cent higher than the state average of 16 percent. "It's the day you caught me," said Adams. "It is a per- ception. It is those folks' atti- tudes. But, you know, in the social science of health, your perception is your reality. So if you perceive that you are in poor health, whether you are or you are not, that's how you're going to report. And the fact is, you may not live as long if you have that per- ception, long-term." Pike County respondents also reported an average of 4.5 physically unhealthy days in the previous 30 days, which was 25 percent higher than the state average of 3.6. In addition, low birth- weights, defined as less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces, were re- ported for 9.7 percent of Pike County's 1,069 live births from 2004 to 2010. The state average was 8.3 percent. "Dr. VanNess and the Governor have identified in- fant mortality as one of their key priority areas," Adams said. "Babies who are born before 39 weeks tend to be a lower birthweight, and wom- en who have complications due to diabetes or obesity in their pregnancies tend to de- liver earlier." Premature death ac- counts for half of the coun- ty's ranking in health out- comes while the quality of life measures comprised the other half. healTh facTors According to the report, Pike County ranked 22nd in the state in health behav- iors, which accounted for 30 percent of the county's health factors' rating. Adams noted that 18 per- cent of adults surveyed in Pike County reported that they had smoked 100 or more cigarettes in their lifetime and were currently smoking "most days" or ev- ery day. The state average was 23 percent. "We know that adult smoking is one of the big- gest factors in future respi- ratory issues," Adams said. "We know that it also takes off years of life, and we also know that the quality of life is not as great, especially if you are diagnosed with lung cancer." Thirty-two percent of re- spondents from Pike Coun- ty reported a body mass in- dex (BMI) greater than or equal to 30, one percent higher than the state aver- age of 31 percent. In addition, 32 percent of respondents 20 years of age or older reported no leisure- time physical activity while the report found that 68 per- cent of the county's popula- tion had adequate access to locations for physical activity. The report also found that 33 percent of driving deaths in Pike County from 2008 - 2012 involved alcohol, which was higher than the state av- erage of 26 percent. Pike County's sexually transmitted infection rate of 181 per 100,000 popula- tion was less than half the state's rate of 427, while the county's teen birth rate was 45 per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 from 2005 to 2011. The state teen birth rate for the same period was 40. The report also ranked Pike County 25th in social and economic factors, which accounted for 40 percent of the county's health factors rating; 52nd in clinical care, which accounted for 20 per- cent; and 76th in physical en- vironment, which accounted for 10 percent. Adams noted that Pike County had a population-to- primary-care-physician ra- tio of 6,364-to-1, which was more than four times the state's ratio of 1,539 -to-1, and a population-to-dentist ratio of 12,979 -to-1, more than six times the state ra- tio of 2,073-to-1. "We always say that the health of our zip code will drive the health of your com- munity, if we can get a real good assessment of your community, because most of us don't travel outside of our zip code for most things," said Adams. "Where I see some of your red flags is in Pike County ranked 67th in 'County Health Rankings' A-4 Wednesday, April 9, 2014 The Press-Dispatch continued on page 5