Counties fare well in rankings

Annual health report puts Geauga at 2nd best in state; Lake at 23rd

Geauga County has the second best health outcomes in Ohio and Lake County has the 23rd best, according to the 2017 release of the annual “County Health Rankings & Roadmaps” report.

The report comes from an independent third-party assessment compiled by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute, which ranks every county in the nation.

Health outcomes are based on equal weighing of length and quality of life.

The report also measures Health Factors, which is based on weighted scores for health, behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and the physical environment. Geauga County ranked third and Lake County ranked 10th in Ohio in this regard.

“These rankings provide important information to help inform community leaders of the health factors, and their associated health outcomes so that we can collaborate to make the greatest impact on improving health across the public health system,” Lake County Health General Health District Commissioner Ron Graham said.

Graham said they need to “really look at the data and see what the root causes of the problems are.”

“We continue to see challenges in the area of violent crimes and sexually transmitted infections,” he said.

According to the report, the county is seeing the number of chlamydia cases trending upward. The report’s most recent data comes from 2014, when Lake County had 282 chlamydia cases per 100,000 residents. That figure is down slightly from 2013 (292), but still nearly double the rate from 2007 (146).

Still, Lake County was well below both the state and country’s rates. In 2014, Ohio had 474 chlamydia cases per 100,000 residents and the U.S had 456. Geauga County’s cases rose from 47 per 100,000 in 2007 to 110 in 2014.

Violent crime — the other category singled out by Graham — is measured in the report based on threeyear averages. The most recent data comes from 2013. The violent crime rate per 100,000 people rose in Lake County from 89 in 2004 to a peak of 203 in 2011 declining over the next two years to 174 in 2013. Once again those rates were below the state and national figures. Ohio’s violent crime rate was 290 per 100,000 in 2013. The country’s was 380.

The difference, however, is both Ohio and the country have seen its respective violent crimes rates drop over the period reported in County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. In 2004 the state and country’s rates were 360 and 483 respectively.

Geauga County’s violent crime rate has remained relatively flat, from 36 in 2004 to 43 in 2013.

According to the report, Geauga County has the second-best length of life in the state and Lake County has the 18th. The top four leading causes of death under the age of 75 is the same for both counties: malignant neoplasms, heart diseases, accidents (unintentional injuries) and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

Child poverty rates in Lake and Geauga counties are lower than the state and national averages. In Lake County 13 percent of children live in poverty. That rate is 9 percent in Geauga. Ohio and the U.S. are both at 21 percent.

Lake County fared better than Geauga y in the physical environment category. Lake County was ranked 12th in this category compared to 35th for Geauga. Lake County has less air pollution and fewer long commutes alone to work. Forty-six percent of Geauga County residents who drove to work alone have a longer than 30-minute commute. That rate is 32 percent for Lake County commuters. The state average is 30 percent.

The report listed low adult obesity rates, access to exercise opportunities and low teen birth rates as areas of strength for both counties.