Putnam No Longer Healthiest County in New York
Putnam’s reign as ‘healthiest county’ in New York State has come to end as the 2013 County Health Rankings was released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute on March 20. Putnam County was ranked fourth in the state in the overall category of “health outcomes,” after having been number one for three consecutive years.
“We’re still doing well,” said Allen Beals, MD, JD, Commissioner of Health, “a fourth place ranking among 62 counties indicates superior health.” Even when Putnam ranked first, the health challenges the county faced, such as adult obesity, physical inactivity and excessive alcohol consumption among adult residents, did not meet state and national benchmarks. This year, these areas did not show any significant improvement.
“We will continue to aggressively target these areas,” said Dr. Beals. Putnam County did rank first in “social & economic factors”. It ranked 18th in the “clinical care” category.
SIMILAR: Putnam Health Department Urges Radon Testing
In 2013 for the first time, the Putnam County Department of Health is spearheading countywide efforts to formulate a Community Health Improvement Plan, known as the CHIP. This multi-disciplinary approach to planning health improvements will be formulated in collaboration with a wide variety of community partners including hospitals, community based organizations such as mental health and substance abuse agencies, schools, businesses and others.
Current efforts to improve the county’s health status include the department’s Live Healthy Putnam Initiative which addresses chronic disease prevention efforts through collaboration with community partners including schools, restaurants, farmer’s markets, recreation centers and many others.
Additionally the health department recently started a campaign to make residents aware of the radon exposure they could be in harm’s way of in their home and is offering tests through the health department for $10.
“I know how hard the Health Department and other county agencies work to address these issues,” said County Executive MaryEllen Odell. “However, behavior is very difficult to change. I am committed to support the Health Department in their efforts to address these health issues.”
Rockland County ranked second overall. Westchester came in at the number seven slot and Dutchess ranked ninth.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
