Published: July 18, 2008 11:03 pm      

Madison County Health Care Summit

Health of county discussed

A study released last year naming Madison County one of the healthiest counties in the state was analyzed Friday during the Madison County Health Care Summit.

Hosted by the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, the summit conducted at the Perkins Building on Eastern Kentucky University’s campus featured several breakout sessions dealing with health-related issues.

The event kicked off with a discussion of the Kentucky Institute of Medicine’s “The Health of Kentucky: A County Assessment” report released in September 2007.

Among Kentucky’s 120 counties, Madison was ranked the 20th healthiest in the report.

The top 10 most healthy counties in the state in order were: Oldham, Boone, Jessamine, Anderson, Woodford, Fayette, Spencer, Daviess, Calloway and Clark.

The least healthy counties in descending order were: Owsley, Powell, Hart, Knott, Lee, McCreary, Perry, Harlan, Clay and Wolfe.

“Madison County came out pretty good in that report,” said Dr. Emery A. Wilson, director of the Office of Health Research and Development and dean emeritus of the College of Medicine at the University of Kentucky. “What we are looking for is that counties begin to use that information to improve their health.”

“If I were you, I’d be marketing the hell out of this, saying, ‘We’re one of the top 20 healthy counties in Kentucky. It’s a great place to go to school. It’s a great place to live. And, it’s great place to bring your company,’” he said.

The study reported that most of the health problems in the state are because of poor lifestyle choices, such as tobacco use, unhealthy diets and not enough exercise.

“If we can do something, in particular here in Kentucky, with smoking, obesity and inactivity, we can do a tremendous amount to increase the health of our population,” said Dr. Michael E. Samuels, endowed chair for rural health policy in UK’s College of Medicine.

The study also stated that a lack of physicians and health insurance contribute to the poor health of Kentuckians — especially those in eastern Kentucky, the poorest region in the state.

Wilson said he would like to see a commission organized to look at the correlation between health and the economy.

“We have always tended to believe that the economy is important for good health,” he said. “If you have a higher socioeconomic level personally, then you’ll have a healthier lifestyle. But, we’re also showing is that health is important to the economy. It helps to improve productivity and success in the workplace.”

The assessment concluded that Madison County’s strengths include: good oral health; low motor vehicle deaths; high graduation rate; well insured; availability of primary care physicians; low diabetes; low lung/bronchus cancer rate; and low colorectal cancer rate.

A low percentage of smokers also was a strength, according to the report.

The prevalence of youth smoking (23 percent of high school students) is tied with the national average, but lower than the state average. The prevalence of smoking (26 percent of adult population) is above the national average.

However, the numbers still are too high, Samuels said.

“To have 26 percent of your adult population and 23 percent of your high school students smoking is totally unacceptable,” he said. “This is a place where you can make a huge difference.”

Instead of focusing on smoking cessation, Wilson said health officials should look at smoking prevention.

“If you’re going to do that, you need to start at grade school,” he said. “In fact, we’ve been thinking about how to introduce healthy habits in cartoons.”

The challenges Madison County faces, according to the study, include obesity, low birthweight, infant mortality, breast cancer and prostate cancer.

In the behavioral/social factors section of the study, Madison County is below the state and national average in oral health (22 percent of adults missing six or more teeth).

“Kentucky has a really terrible record in terms of oral health,” Samuels said. “Yet, here in Madison County, you seem to be doing really well. Part of the planning process might be not only looking at what’s wrong, but looking at those things we’re doing well. Perhaps, it’s a model for the rest of the state.”

Recommendations from the study for Madison County include increased community emphasis on regular primary care visits and screenings to help lower death rates for breast, prostate and other forms of cancer.

Improved nutrition and increased physical activity also can help reduce obesity and lessen the risks for diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses, the report stated.

“We want local people to be able to control their own destiny and have the information they need to plan to improve their health,” Samuels said about the goal of the assessment.

“This is a baseline because this was the first time it’s ever been done,” he said. “We need to see (in the future) if we did better.”

To read “The Health of Kentucky” report, go to www.kyiom.org.

Bryan Marshall can be reached at bmarshall@richmondregister.com or 624-6691.