close

Greene, Fayette rank low in health study

By Christine Haines, For The Greene County Messenger 4 min read

Greene and Fayette counties are among the least healthy counties in Pennsylvania, according to a study by the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Population Health Institute 2015 County Health Rankings ranks Greene County 63rd out of 67 counties in the state, while Fayette County ranks 64th. Philadelphia County placed last. The healthiest county in Pennsylvania, according to the report, is Union County, followed by its adjoining counties of Centre and Juniata.

The rankings are based on numerous factors including the physical environment, social and economic factors and access to and quality of medical care and healthy behaviors leading to the length and quality of life.

Despite the low overall ranking, Greene County did well when it came to the food environment, alcohol impaired driving deaths, the percentage of residents who are insured and diabetic monitoring. At 6.4 percent, Greene County also placed well on the unemployment scale. Other positives included social associations, a low number of drinking water violations, and a lower than average rate of severe housing problems.

Fayette County did well in certain categories, scoring better than average when it comes to access to exercise opportunities, dentists and mental health providers. Fayette County also received better than average scores than other counties indicating residents do not have as many problems with violent crime, drinking water violations and severe housing problems.

Despite the lower rate for alcohol-impaired driving fatalities, Greene County had 24 percent of its residents reporting excessive drinking, compared to 19 percent in Fayette County, 17 percent statewide and a low of 5 percent in Bedford County.

Some of the worst rankings, however, came in the number of residents reporting poor or fair health. Greene County ranked the third worst in the state behind Forest and Elk counties, followed by Fayette County, then Philadelphia. Fayette ranked fourth from the bottom when it came to premature deaths. Greene County had the second worst rating for the number of physically unhealthy days, with Fayette close behind in a four-way tie.

Joy Eggleston, the senior public affairs officer for the Southwest Regional Medical Center in Waynesburg, said many of the health problems seen in the county are chronic conditions directly related to coal mining. Mining has long been a primary employer in Greene County, leading to a number of respiratory diseases.

Eggleston said the hospital is proactive in developing detailed discharge plans in order to reduce the number of re-admissions to the hospital.

Fayette County is third only to Forest County with 38 percent and Philadelphia with 36 percent of its children in poverty. Fayette has 30 percent and Greene County has 23 percent of its children living in poverty.

Fayette led the state in adult obesity, with 37 percent of the residents reportedly obese, compared to 29 percent statewide. Greene County weighed in at 26 percent of its residents reportedly obese.

John Rapano, chair of the Fayette County Community Health Improvement Partnership (CHIP), said the volunteer group has worked with Uniontown Hospital in the past to assess health needs in the community and to increase access to insurance. The partnership has also taken steps to improve healthy lifestyles in the county through improved diet, nutrition and exercise programs such as the Wednesday Healthy Walks in various communities across the county during the summer months.

“They get a couple hundred people a week,” Rapano said. “We’d like to see the Sheepskin Trail finished, and even get sidewalks repaired.”

Rapano said actions as simple as sidewalk repairs can lead to increased exercise.

“The third initiative is directly addressed to the socio-economic status of the county,” Rapano said.

Rapano said the Fayette County CHIP is working with the Fay Penn Economic Development Corporation and others to attract businesses to Fayette County.

“We’re just doing what we can. The CHIP doesn’t get any public funding at all. If we’ve made any progress with these initiatives, we won’t know for another two years, probably,” Rapano said.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today