Livingston County ranks 4th in overall health, but that doesn't mean everything is perfect

HOWELL — Livingston County is the fourth healthiest in the state, according to an annual ranking of Michigan's 83 counties.

The County Health Rankings are conducted annually by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The data shows how healthy a county is and what's making people sick to help build awareness of areas that counties need to focus on to improve community health.

"Good health is essential to living a full and happy life, but many factors influence how well and how long we live," said Courtney Rynkiewicz, public information officer with Livingston County Health Department. "Access to affordable housing or well-paying jobs, opportunities for a good education for our community’s children, and many other elements of our lives, all influence our health."

According to the rankings, Livingston County has a high percentage of physically active adults, a higher flu vaccination rate than the state and national averages and a high percentage of residents with health insurance coverage.

Although Livingston County is ranked fourth, that doesn't mean that there aren't areas for improvement. Areas where LCHD is looking to improve include the adult obesity rate, the rate of adult smokers, substance abuse rates, and transportation in both length of commute and driving alone to work.

"The main way we address these issues is kind of bringing it up to our various workgroups that we participate on through the Human Services Collaborative body," Rynkiewicz said.

These areas for improvement will also be considered during the development of the next Community Health Improvement Plan, which is planned to begin in 2024. The current Livingston County CHIP can be viewed on the LCHD website, livgov.com/health.

In order to address transportation issues, LCHD is working with a transportation group affiliated with the HSC, as well as meeting with healthcare representatives from Michigan Medicine, Trinity Health and Ascension. They convene on a quarterly basis with the transportation director and review metrics on how people are being transported to medical appointments.

In terms of the obesity rate, LCHD collaborates with Trinity Health for a Prescription for Health program. It allows people, with a referral from their doctor, to get help setting health goals and working on whatever else is needed to improve their overall health. Participants are also given $200 to spend at local farmers' markets.

"That's a great program," she said.

For more individual things like the rate of adult smokers and substance abuse, Rynkiewicz said LCHD has partnered with Community Mental Health to get information about who is using substances and what barriers they are facing in accessing treatment or finding support groups.

LCHD and CMH released a substance abuse report at the beginning of May with a number of statistics specifically focused on overdose trends, Rynkiewicz said. The report was made possible through a grant received by CMH.

It stated 306 people were seen between March 2020 and July 2022 for hospital and emergency department visits, but those 306 people were seen a combined 560 times.

"We're seeing that we're having repeat visits from the people that are overdosing," Rynkiewicz said.

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She also mentioned the data showed individuals seeking treatment faced stigma about seeking care, which deterred them from asking for help.

"Our hope is that by sharing this information, making it available to all the people who work in the area of substance use treatment, they can use this data to drive what decisions they make at their facilities," she said.

Rynkiewicz added she hopes this is an ongoing initiative, where once or twice a year they can put together a report that focuses on different areas of concern.

For more information, visit countyhealthrankings.org or call LCHD at 517-546-9850.

— Contact reporter Patricia Alvord at palvord@livingstondaily.com.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Livingston County ranked 4th healthiest among Michigan's 83 counties