2016 Muskingum County Health Ranking

The rankings measure vital health factors including high school graduation rates, obesity, smoking, unemployment, access to healthy foods, the quality of air and water, income, and teen births.

We visited the Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department (ZMCHD) today to talk to Kylie Jones, Community Health Planner at the ZMCHD about this year’s numbers.

“Some of the positive things for Muskingum County this year is the decrease in premature deaths and an increase in clinical care providers in the area. Its no secret Muskingum County faces many health challenges. Our community has a higher rate of smoking, teen birthrate, child poverty, and a lot of uninsured adults in our county,” said Jones.

Jones mentioned that there are changes to how this data is collected and reported every year, which makes it hard for Muskingum County to use these rankings. Because of this, Jones said that due to these changes in data collecting methods, data should not be compared with the prior years.

“We are taking action to improve the health of our residents, we are working with the Healthier Muskingum County Network to identify, to prioritize, and to implement strategies to help with those issues. We really want to invite people to those meetings. We want community leaders, business leaders, elected officials, and community residents to come to these meetings,” said Jones.

If you are interested in being apart of the Healthier Muskingum County Network, the next meeting is at the Zanesville Muskingum County Health Department in the first floor conference room on March 31st from 9:00am to 10:30am.