By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager
County health rankings based on information reported by State and County Health Departments rate San Juan County best in the state based on more than two dozen sets of health statistics including rates of adult obesity, diabetic screening and years lost to premature death.
On the negative side, the rankings show that nearly 30 percent of the County’s adult population has no health insurance – more than twice the state average. However, at 91 percent, the County’s rate of screening Medicare enrollees for diabetes is among the highest in the state and the rate of preventable hospital stays is half the state average.
In the rankings for categories of health factors, San Juan County is rated number 1 among Washington’s 39 Counties in health behaviors, number 1 in health outcomes, second in social and economic factors that affect health, number 16 in clinical care, and 38th – next to last – in physical environment.
The low score for physical environment results from a larger than average number of days the report says that the air contains an unhealthy amount of particulate matter (17 days per year versus an average of 2 statewide) and a density of liquor stores more than two and a half times state average. (The calculations did not take the physical separation of the county’s population by islands into account in calculating service and commercial densities.)
Douglas, King, Whitman and Whatcom Counties were among the other high rated Counties. Ferry County rated last for both health outcomes and health factors.
The complete rankings of Washington’s counties and more state and national health information are available on the County Health Rankings web site at: https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/washington
Overall, this is great news for San Juan County! Yes, all the statistics noted in the article aren’t great, but the ranking is very impressive.