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I am writing on behalf of LiveWell Luzerne, Luzerne County’s healthy communities consortium. This is the sixth year that the national County Health Rankings have been released, and the sixth year that Luzerne County has been located in the bottom quarter of counties in the state for health outcomes and health factors – 58th of 67 counties for health outcomes, and 60th for health factors.
The County Health Rankings underline the idea that our health – how we feel and how long we live – is more than health care, hospitals and doctors. Despite ranking eighth out of 67 counties for a healthy environment, the combination of poor health behaviors (ranking 50th) and challenging economic and social factors (ranking 63rd) cause Luzerne County residents to be considered less healthy than people in other Pennsylvania counties. For more information, see www.countyhealthrankings.org.
The rankings show some measures are improving and some are not. Three measures in clinical care – mammography screening, diabetes care and preventable hospital stays – have improved, as well as the measure of violent crime and air pollution. However, certain health behaviors such as adult obesity and physical inactivity are higher in Luzerne County than in Pennsylvania as a whole, and are continuing to get worse.
Even more important, more than one in four children in Luzerne County live in poverty. Luzerne County ranks 61st for childhood poverty, but of the bottom 10 counties, only Luzerne, Erie and Philadelphia house more than 10,000 poor children. Poverty leads to family stress, drug abuse, violence and other adverse childhood experiences that are a well-documented cause of poor future health.
How can we prevent poor health in Luzerne County?
First, we have to build on our assets: a beautiful natural environment, with lots of public green spaces in the form of state parks, forests and gamelands, as well as walkable downtowns and affordable homes. Linking people to our natural lands and walkable downtowns can help to improve adult obesity and physical inactivity, as well as highlight marketable qualities of the region. One example is Live Well Luzerne’s partnership to promote our great local places, the Keystone Active Zone Passport program (www.kazpassport.org).
Second, but arguably more important, we must try to remove childhood poverty in Luzerne County. The United Way of Wyoming Valley’s Poverty to Possibility campaign is an important attempt to impact root causes of childhood poverty, and there have to be many more.
People interested in working to create a healthier Luzerne County are welcome to contact me, Diane Madras from LiveWell Luzerne, by calling 570-714-6339. Or send email to diane.madras@gmail.com.
Diane Madras
Member
LiveWell Luzerne
Wilkes-Barre