Study: Escambia's health needs checkup


  • March 27, 2014
  • /   Shannon Nickinson
  • /   community-dashboard
PRESS RELEASE — A new report showing Escambia County was 57th in the State of Florida for healthiness was disappointing but not surprising, said David Sjoberg, Executive Director of Partnership for a Healthy Community. “It confirms what we’ve been saying all along,” said Sjoberg, referring to the County Health Rankings & Roadmap tool released Wednesday by the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (See www.countyhealthrankings.org) The Partnership has sponsored comprehensive health status assessments for Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2012. The studies showed little improvement over the years. Most of the data in the newest study was based on the years 2010-2012. The Partnership now is developing a plan for the best short-term strategies for dealing with the problems. Sjoberg expects it to be ready in late summer. While Escambia dropped to 57th place from its previous ranking of 55 out of 67 Florida counties, Sjoberg noted that its ranking for “factors” actually rose two places. “Factors incorporate data for key behaviors like smoking, drinking and unhealthy weight, as well as key clinical and socioeconomic indicators, including things like availability of health providers and number of people who receive appropriate screenings,” Sjoberg said. “If we sustain it, doing better on ‘factors’ should serve as a predictor that we'll do better on ‘outcomes’ over time. It's a sign that we're starting to do better. “It will, however, take a few years of collaborative community effort to begin to improve the bigger set of indicators used to measure overall community health status,” Sjoberg said. He stated that employers and residents of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties are accounting for more than $1 billion related to tobacco use, unhealthy weight and improper use of hospital emergency rooms, which are more expensive than other medical facilities. This is a statewide problem; Florida is one of the four worst states in the nation when it comes to misuse of emergency facilities. Escambia County is one of the worst offenders in Florida. “If we can make some progress in improving health and make a dent in those tremendously high costs, it will improve both the economy and quality of life in our two counties,” said Sjoberg. Meanwhile, the Partnership for a Health Community has been working on solutions. It has established a comprehensive website, Live Well Northwest Florida (www.livewellnwfl.org), which promotes healthy living and health education. It also has recruited businesses and institutions to become Live Well Partners and formed groups to work on top priorities – healthy weight, tobacco cessation and efficient use of healthcare facilities. The priorities were established last May at a gathering organized by Partnership. In addition, the group won a prestigious award to help it show people how to deal with weight-related problems. Partnership was one of 12 groups nationwide chosen to receive the guidance of a “community coach” from the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The service is offered at no cost, thanks to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. The goal of Partnership  is to develop a community action plan for the three priority areas in the Escambia-Santa Rosa area, which ranks 19th out of 22 Florida Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The Partnership for a Healthy Community was formed in 1994 by Baptist Health Care Corporation and Sacred Heart Health Systems. For more details, see www.pfahc.org.
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