Clark County is the state’s 14th-healthiest county, according to the 2015 County Health Rankings.
Here are the healthiest and least healthy counties in the state, according to the annual report.
Healthiest
1 – Whitman.
2 – San Juan.
3 – Kittitas.
4 – Whatcom.
5 – King.
Least healthy
35 -Pend Oreille.
36 – Grays Harbor.
37 – Okanogan.
38 – Pacific.
39 – Wahkiakum.
Clark County ranks in the middle of the pack when it comes to community health in Washington.
The 2015 County Health Rankings, released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, ranked Clark County as 14th-healthiest of the state’s 39 counties. That’s the county’s lowest ranking since the annual reports began in 2010. Clark County ranked eighth-healthiest in 2010 and 2012. Last year, it ranked 10th.
However, the drop doesn’t necessarily mean Clark County is less healthy this year than previous years, said Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County Public Health administrator and health officer.
“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),” he said.
If the numbers in another county fluctuate — which can easily happen in smaller counties with fewer residents — that could bump Clark County up or down in the rankings, even if nothing changes locally, Melnick said.
“Where we rank is not as important as what the measurements are themselves,” he said.
The rankings — at www.countyhealthrankings.org — measure 30 factors that influence health, including exercise, diet, tobacco and alcohol use, access to health care, employment, housing, violent crime, and education.
One bright spot in Clark County is residents’ access to exercise opportunities. About 96 percent of local residents live near a park or a recreational facility, such as a gym, community center, pool or dance studio, according to the data.
The only county in the state with a higher percentage is King County (98 percent). Statewide, 89 percent of people live near parks or recreational facilities, according to the rankings.
Just because local residents have access to exercise opportunities, doesn’t mean they’re taking advantage of those resources, Melnick said. Clark County has an adult obesity rate of 29 percent and 19 percent of adults are not physically active, according to the data.
“Overweight and obesity: We can do some work around that,” Melnick said. “Regardless of what other counties are, we have adult obesity at 29 percent.”
Other areas where Clark County scored unfavorably are related to clinical care.
Clark County’s medically uninsured rate is 16 percent — the same as the state rate. But access to primary care physicians, dentists and mental health providers remains a challenge locally.
Clark County has one primary care physician for every 1,496 residents. The state average is one physician for every 1,203 residents.
The county has one dentist for every 1,552 residents; the state average is one dentist for every 1,327 residents. And Clark County has one mental health provider for every 479 residents, compared with one provider for every 409 residents statewide, according to the rankings.
Other measures of concern, according to Melnick, are the county’s chlamydia rate (314 infections per 100,000 residents), inequities among socioeconomic groups and income inequality.
The rankings also reveal some promising numbers, Melnick said. Clark County has fairly low numbers of babies with low birth weights, for example.
Public health is also doing work that will, in time, improve some of the unfavorable numbers, Melnick said. For example, the health department’s work with restaurants and small neighborhood markets to offer healthier food options may be able help slow climbing obesity rate, he said.
The county also has community and regional partnerships in place that will address some of the issues surrounding access to care, particularly for Medicaid clients, Melnick said.
“We may not see rate changes in one year, but we’ll be seeing them over time,” he said. “Making these changes and improving health isn’t year-to-year; we’re in for the long haul.”
