County health rankings fuel improvement efforts in Sangamon County
"They are there when I need them," said Jackson, 65, a native of
Jackson, a retired nursing-home dietary aide and former smoker who deals with high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, spine and lung problems and several other ailments, is one of 1,200 people who have been served by community health workers employed through the nationally recognized Enos Park Access to Care Collaborative.
The free program, funded the past three years with a total of
Funding for the program was renewed for three more years under a new name -- Access to Health -- since it was expanded in November to include the nearby
The Sangamon County Community Health Needs Assessment, which led to the
What struck local officials in the nationwide County Health Rankings & Roadmaps reports was the disparity between the county's stellar rankings for "clinical care" and its mediocre rankings for "health outcomes."
The fact that the disparity continued in updated rankings in the recently released 2019 report -- despite positive results reported by the
They said the numbers underscore the daunting task ahead of them.
"This is a long-term commitment," said
Because of its relatively high number of doctors per capita,
But for the health outcomes ranking, which is based on national measures of premature death, mental health, physical health and low birthweight,
Poverty and other economic factors often play a role in the health outcomes rankings, health experts say. Health problems in the population, as well as economic struggles, often are entrenched.
"When people have chronic diseases, you don't turn that around really quickly," Smith told
Sometimes, progress can take the form of preventing overall health from becoming worse, she said.
But Smith pointed out that the project served 1 percent of
SIU, which administers Access to Health, is looking into ways of "scaling up" the program to serve more people in the county, she said. Such a feat will take money and personnel, and the impact statement noted that there are "very limited opportunities" to bill
The state of
She and her colleagues aren't alone in facing challenges to make big differences in their communities.
Not a single
"We've definitely seen some changes" in the individual statistics that influence the rankings, he said.
But it may take expanded efforts and decades of work before innovative programs such as the one in
Public-health activists are aware of this reality, he said.
The not-for-profit County Health Rankings group is a collaboration between the
Despite the lack of rapid change, the rankings are a valuable tool "to alert the community and make people think about what we should do," said Dr.
The rankings helped the roundtable gain attention a year ago for its report calling on the community to do more to address elevated lead levels in children and higher-than-average asthma rates, said
Disparities highlighted in the rankings have become part of the debate among
A recent series in
"It's tough to make a difference," Steward said.
But because
And Jackson said she feels cared for by SIU's community health workers in the Access to Care program.
"SIU is a great big help," she said.
Jackson's daughter,
Contact
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Counties Ranking among 102 counties
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
Available online at bit.ly/countyrankings2019
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