Special to 1808Delaware
The Delaware Public Health District (DPHD) is pleased to announce that Delaware County is among the top healthiest in Ohio and the Nation according to the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHR&R) 2024 Annual Data Release recently released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
A major change this year is CHR&R no longer ranks counties within each state. Over the last decade, Ohio counties were assigned a single number out of the total number of counties providing a simple way to understand differences in health. That method was replaced this year with a new tool that allows comparisons of a county’s health with other counties, whether that’s in the same state or across the nation. Counties with similar health will now be in the same shade of color.
Regarding this new tool, the CHR&R FAQ website states that “No county needs to outperform another to get to the top spot. This approach aligns with our vision that ALL people and places have what they need to thrive.”
DPHD Health Commissioner Garrett Guillozet sees this new comparison tool as a way to visually understand how to sustain health and also improve health by exploring patterns across Ohio and even other states to find peer counties with similar health issues.
“These comparisons provide an exciting illustration of how Delaware County residents prioritize health, but also reflects conditions that we certainly can work on with our neighboring counties to allow everyone to be given similar opportunities and resources to live long and well,” Guillozet said.
Guillozet added that one of the most outstanding aspects of the Health District and the community at-large continues to be the willingness to partner and form coalitions to ensure that these health opportunities and resources are addressed in a multi-faceted approach as outlined in the Community Health Improvement Plan.
The Health District along with several community partners that make up The Partnership for a Healthy Delaware County (The Partnership) are currently working together to implement year two of the 2023-2028 Community Health Improvement Plan.
“The work and successes of year one of the Community Health Improvement Plan highlights the awesome effort The Partnership is making to strengthen and support the boots-on-the-ground strategies to improve a variety of health issues our county is experiencing,” said Guillozet. “Their work to enhance the health of residents and make Delaware County an even better place to live, work, and grow is highly applauded.”
Guillozet said that it was important to note that while the Health District is seen as the leader in county health issues, these comparisons are not a grading system for health departments, but rather a snapshot of the population’s overall health.
The measures in the 2024 Annual Data Release are based on a model of population health that emphasizes the many social, economic, physical, clinical and other factors that influence how long and how well we live. Our Model of health provides a graphical depiction of how CHR&R summarizes the health of communities. For more information about the 2024 Annual Data Release, visit countyhealthrankings.org.
Source, Photo: Delaware Public Health District
