New statistics available

From the National Network of Libraries of Medicine:

A new set of reports which ranks the overall health of every county in all 50 states is now available on www.countyhealthrankings.org. County Health Rankings ranks each county within the state on how healthy people are and how long they live. Counties are also ranked on key factors that affect health such as: smoking, obesity, binge drinking, access to primary care providers, rates of high school graduation, rates of violent crime, air pollution levels, liquor store density, unemployment rates and number of children living in poverty.

The 50-state report, released by the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, helps public health and community leaders, policy-makers, consumers and others to see how healthy their county is, compare it with others within their state and find ways to improve the health of their community.

Other studies have ranked states on health factors, but this is the first time researchers have examined the multiple factors that affect health in each county in all 50 states.

For more information, visit http://www.rwjf.org/publichealth/product.jsp?id=55508 .

The statistics for our parish and the surrounding parish are found on the page for our state here. You'll notice that East Baton Rouge is ranked 19th in the state.  Our neighbors in West Baton Rouge are 54th, Pointe Coupee is 22nd, West Feliciana is 14th, East Feliciana is 45th, St. Helena is 58th, Livingston is 18th, Ascension is 6th, and Iberville is 53rd.