Mount Vernon Optic-Herald

County health rankings for 2010 were recently released and Franklin County was ranked 24th in the State and the highest in the Northeast Texas area.
Titus County was the only other local county ranked in the top 50 at 36th place.
The report was published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and reflects the overall health of counties in every state across the nation. The report provides a snapshot of how healthy residents are by comparing overall health and factors that influence their health with other counties in each state.
The study ranked Texas counties on health outcomes including mortality, length of life, and morbidity, quality of life. It also took into account Health Factors broken into four categories: 1) Health behaviors including tobacco use, alcohol use, diet and exercise, and unsafe sex; 2) Clinical care including access to care and quality of care; 3) Social and economic factors including education, employment, income, family and social support, and community safety; 4) Physical environment including air quality and access to healthy foods.
The full report can be viewed at www.countyhealth rankings.org/texas.
- Susan Reeves ’10