Clark County has 102 primary health care providers per 100,000 people; the state rate is 136 per 100,000, according to http://www.countyhealth
rankings.org/washington/clark.
Clark County was just ranked as the eighth-healthiest in Washington. Now local public health officials want to make sure the county won’t drop down that list.
Based on health indicators that were part of the national report, “There is a lot of work to do,” said John Wiesman, director of Clark County Public Health, or “We’re not going to be eighth.”
Children represent a big part of that work. Last week, Wiesman and several community partners discussed the problems of childhood obesity and a decline in kids’ physical activity.
He met with representatives from Vancouver-Clark Parks & Recreation, the Parks Foundation, Equal Opportunities for Children and Families, Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington and Washington State University Vancouver.
The discussion was sparked by First Lady Michelle Obama’s recently announced “Let’s Move” campaign to prevent childhood obesity, Wiesman said.
There is no new money for local programs, but if the First Lady can generate some resources and bring more attention to the issue, “We could capitalize on it: things that parents can do to keep young kids physically active and eating well,” Wiesman said.
The meeting also offered a chance for several organizations to compare notes.
“The cool thing was getting to collaborate and put resources together,” said John Andersen, director of Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington. “What do you do? Here’s what we do. Can you offer this program at our place?
“One of the main challenges for our families, they don’t know what’s available — especially at the low-income bracket,” Andersen said.
It was a good discussion that might pay off in the future, Wiesman said. That’s important because there is no guarantee Clark County will remain among the healthiest of Washington’s 39 counties.
The report released a week ago ranked Clark County as No. 8 in the category of health outcomes, calculated on length of life and quality of life.
But another ranking for health factors put Clark County at No. 16. The factors that influence the health of a county include smoking, obesity, alcohol use, clinical care, health insurance, employment and education.
“Factors lead to outcomes down the road,” said Dr. Alan Melnick, county health officer. “We can cut smoking to zero percent now, and people will still be dying of lung cancer next week.”
Last week’s study of 3,000 U.S. counties was one of several recent surveys of Clark County’s health.
A report card issued earlier this month by a local nonprofit, Community Choices, adds perspective to last week’s national report from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The Community Choices report card charted several population categories, including race, income, education, environment and social circumstances.
Another report that examined life expectancies in four Clark County ZIP-code clusters found a gap of about five years between the top and bottom areas. Life expectancies ranged from about 75 1/2 to 77 1/2 years at the low end to about 80 to 82 years at the top.
“It’s great that we’re eighth” in last week’s ranking of Washington’s counties, Melnick said. “But many areas of the county are nowhere near eighth place. Some parts could be second, but another part could be the equivalent of No. 38.”
