Muskingum County Health Ratings Improve

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- New county health rankings show Muskingum County has improved since last year.

Muskingum County improved from 71 in 2015 to 63 in 2016 out of 88 counties in Ohio. The Community Health Planner for the Muskingum County Health Department, Kylie Jones, explains the rankings are split into two categories, health outcomes and factors.

“Health outcomes look at quality of life and length of life, so those areas improved where people reported better mental health days and some of the health factors that affect our county, tobacco use, we improved on that and some clinical care issues.”

Jones notes the Health Department has established a Community Health Improvement Plan to keep Muskingum County’s rank on the rise.

“We just finished our community health assessment and we are currently working on our community health improvement plan and we have identified four areas, access to care, education, mental health and food security, so we are working on those things with the community and other community partnerships to keep increasing our ranking.”

The rankings come from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin  Population Health Institute.