We’ll admit it: We’re suckers for those stories that examine cities or counties or states by some statistical category. You know, those comparisons that rank an area through statistical analyses and remind us of how much better we have it than those guys over there.
Maybe it’s a superiority complex; maybe it is simple curiosity. And while we should be wary of reading too much into the numbers, the important thing is look for ways in which to improve our quality of life.
All of that is a long-winded preamble for exploring the latest analysis that tells us how we’re doing. Clark County ranks as the 14th-healthiest among Washington’s 39 counties, according to the 2015 County Health Rankings by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Why is this important, you might ask. Well, as Mahatma Gandhi reputedly said, “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” Or, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The first wealth is health.”
Using a matrix of 30 statistical factors that influence health — exercise, diet, access to care, etc. — researchers studied every county in the country to devise a snapshot. In 2010, Clark County ranked as the eighth-healthiest in Washington; last year it stood 10th. But while the trend is going in the wrong direction, Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County Public Health administrator and health officer, stressed: “We’re ranked with all the other counties in the state, so our numbers could stay exactly the same and we could go from (10 to 14). Where we rank is not as important as what the measurements are themselves.”