ZMCHD releases county health rankings

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- The annual County Health Rankings list has been released and Muskingum County didn’t fare too well.

The Zanesville-Muskingum County Public Health Department said the county ranked 67 out of 88 counties in Ohio. This is four spots down from where Muskingum landed on the list last year. Each county is evaluated in two categories: health outcomes and health factors.

“That kind of looks at quality of life and a lot of different factors: behavioral factors, physical environment, access to care,” said Kylie Jones the Community Health Planner.  “When we looked at the data that affected that was adult smoking. That number has increased. Also, alcohol impaired driving deaths.”

Jones said while the ranking doesn’t sound good, things are actually improving in the county. She said the Department is working with the Healthier Muskingum County Network to find ways to continue improving better health. Jones said as things continue to improve the ranking should improve as well.

“For smoking we have some smoking initiatives that we’re working with other area agencies and businesses to work on smoke free policies,” said Jones. “So for housing and for area businesses that’s a good change that we’re helping with.”

Jones said the alcohol impaired death numbers are improving for this year. She said an increased number of OWI checkpoints and higher police presence during popular drinking times has helped. If you want to see the numbers you can visit the health department’s website.