Page 91 - 2015 Compass Now

A HEALTH PROFILE OF THE GREAT RIVERS REGION

Introduction

This portion of the COMPASS NOW Report serves as an overview of the Health of the Great Rivers Region.
This segment is not meant to duplicate other available health reports but rather offer additional context
to the COMPASS NOW 2015 community needs assessment and explore the influence health has on our
community. It includes both a summary of the key health indicator data as well as related results from the
COMPASS NOW 2015 Random Household Survey.

How healthy are we?

Measures of Overall Health

There are many measures that look at overall health of a population. Numerous organizations create and
publish public reports on the overall health of specific states. One of the most widely known reports is
“America’s Health Rankings” by United Healthcare. In 2014, Minnesota was ranked third in the nation and
Wisconsin was ranked seventh.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as the state of complete physical, mental, and social
well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This viewpoint has become increasingly accepted
in recent decades. The health of a community depends on many different factors. These range from health
behaviors, education, jobs, quality of health care, and the environment. The University of Wisconsin
Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have developed a national system
of health rankings, by which every county within each state is ranked on data specific to their population1.
There are two rankings: an overall health outcomes score and an overall health factors score. The overall
health outcomes measure indicates how long people live (mortality) and how healthy people feel while they
are alive (morbidity). The health factors ranking is based on measures that are more predictive of future
health outcomes – health behaviors, clinical care, socioeconomic factors, and the physical environment.
The overall health outcomes scores for each county are shown in Table 1. La Crosse County ranked highest
for overall health outcomes, while Monroe County ranked lowest. Houston County ranked highest for the
mortality ranking, while Monroe County ranked lowest. Vernon County ranked highest for the morbidity
ranking, while Trempealeau County ranked lowest.

Table 1: 2015 County Health Rankings: Health Outcomes

County* Health Outcomes Mortality Morbidity HEALTH
Ranking Ranking Ranking

La Crosse 19 25 18

Monroe 54 58 41

Trempealeau 43 38 48

Vernon 27 41 8

Houston 21 12 41

Source: County Health Rankings, Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health.
*Wisconsin counties’ rankings are out of 72 counties and Minnesota’s are out of 87 counties.

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