[B]ENNINGTON — Bennington County continues to have one of the least healthy populations in Vermont, according to the latest rankings in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings and Roadmaps report.
The rankings, which are compiled in each state and offer annual statistical comparisons on a county-by-county level, show Bennington County ranked 12th of 14 Vermont counties. Only Grand Isle and Orleans counties are ranked lower, at 13 and 14 respectively.
The healthiest populations in Vermont are living in Addison County, followed by Chittenden, Lamoille and Washington counties.
Nearby Rutland County ranked ninth in the report, while Windham County was 10th.
Bennington County has been ranked between 10th and 12th healthiest in the state over the past five reports, after being ranked sixth statewide in 2011.
Statistics related to drug addiction and overdose were cited by local health care officials as a major reason for the lower rankings. Thomas Dee, the CEO of Southwestern Vermont Health Care, said addiction “stands out [in the annual rankings] as an increasingly important one, and over a pretty short period of time.”
The statistics are packaged in a model designed to gauge the health of a community, while addressing general topics of length of life and quality of life. Stats in a number of health-related categories are included for each state, and the figures are broken down by counties for comparison.
‘Tale of two Vermonts’
Dee said socioeconomic conditions have a direct impact on population health in the region. The four counties ranked highest in terms of health are clustered in the most economically vibrant region of the state, he pointed out.
“I’ve always said that this is a tale of two Vermonts,” he said.
The rankings report cites statistics on the economic health of a county, income levels, the level of education and similar factors. Eighty percent of the health of a community is based on socio-economic or other factors and only 20 percent of the ranking is tied to access to medical care.
As part of an effort to improve the health of county residents, local groups formed the Bennington Community Collaborative. Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, United Counseling Service, Shires Housing and the Council on Aging are spearheading the collaborative.
James Trimarchi, the director of planning at the medical center, said the collaborative works to “break down the silos” in order to better coordinate health care for local residents.
The hospital is also involved in the proposed Putnam Block redevelopment project, which is seen as a tangible way to revitalize the local economy and, by extension, the health of the community, Dee said.
Range of health measurements
The data in the 2017 rankings report contains measurements based on the most recent available statistics on quality of life and health conditions; health behaviors, such as smoking, obesity, physical activity, drinking, teen pregnancy and the rate of sexually transmitted infections; clinical care options, the availability of insurance, dental care, mental health services, diabetes monitoring and mammography screening; social and economic factors, such as employment, having a high school degree or college experience; the number of children living in poverty, exposure to violent crime, the number of single-parent households; and available social associations and income inequality.
The physical environment of each county — including air pollution, drinking water quality, rate of severe housing problems, and the distance residents commute — is also taken into account.
For categories in which the county figure is higher or lower than the state figure, the report highlights areas of concern for possible local efforts to foster improvement, while in categories where the local figure is better than the state figure, that indicates improvement or that the problem is not getting worse.
For instance, 16 percent of adult Vermonters smoke, while 24 percent are considered obese. In Bennington County, those figures are identical.
Bennington County has a rate of physical inactivity of 20 percent among its population, which is nearly identical to 19 percent for the state figure, and 89 percent here have access to exercise opportunities, compared to 72 percent in Vermont.
County statistics also were better than or equal to statewide figures for access to health insurance and mental health providers and mammography screening, and showed greater access to social associations than the statewide average.
However, Bennington County had a lower percentage of high school graduates, 83 percent, than the state as a whole, 88 percent; a higher rate of children in single-parent households, 38 percent, compared with 31 percent statewide, and a higher rate of children living in poverty, 18 percent compared with 14 percent statewide.
An additional figure not included in the ranking calculation but shown in the report found the percentage of local students eligible for free or reduced school lunches was 53 percent, compared to a statewide figure of 39 percent.
In the major health factor sections, Bennington County ranked 12th in health outcomes, 13th in quality of life, 11th in health behaviors, 12th in clinical care options, 12th in social and economic factors affecting health, and sixth in physical environment, which could be affected in future statistics by the PFOA contamination discovered last year in wells around the former ChemFab Corp. factory in North Bennington.
Premature death statistics
Nationally, more people are dying younger, within the ages of 15 to 44.
Premature death is measured in terms of years lost by not living to the national average lifespan of 75 years, based on 100,000 people.
The rate “began to rise steadily in 2012 and then accelerated from 2014 to 2015 (representing a 1 percent increase).”
According to the statistics, during 2015 more than 1.2 million people died prematurely in the U.S., up 39,700 from the prior year, with premature deaths rising across the full range of racial, ethnic groups and community types.
Rural counties had the highest rates of premature deaths, the report states, followed by smaller metro areas.
The Vermont figure was 5,500 years lost per 100,000 residents in Vermont, compared to 6,400 years lost among Bennington County residents and 5,200 years lost for the best performing counties nationally.
Orleans County, which was ranked lowest in the state in overall health, lost 7,000 years to premature death, according to the report. Orleans also had an adult smoking rate of 17 percent and a 29 percent rate for adult obesity.
Addison County, the top ranked county, lost 5,000 years to premature death per 100,000 population, had an adult smoking rate of 13 percent and obesity rate of 23 percent.
The report also contains information on the primary causes for deaths among younger people, which include injury deaths. That category includes vehicle and other accidents, firearm-related deaths and drug overdoses. Overdose was identified as the leading cause of premature death by injury in 2015.
In terms of the “length of life,” or premature death statistics, Bennington County ranked fifth best in the state in 2011 and now ranks 12th.
Also included in the report are references to a number of actions being taken around the country to reduce the number of premature deaths. Information on these initiatives and additional statistical information on the health of counties in each state can be found online at www.countyhealthrankings.org.
A new statistical measurement in the 2017 report counted disconnected youth, or those 16 to 24 who are not in school or working. There are about 4.9 million disconnected youth in the U.S, with the rates highest among minority youth and higher in rural counties — 21.6 percent — than in urban counties, 13.7 percent.
Bennington County showed 11 percent disconnected youth, compared to 9 percent in the state.
