Livingston County Returns to Top 10 Healthiest in NYS

LIVINGSTON COUNTY – After a dip in rank, Livingston County is back in the top 10 healthiest counties in New York State.

A press release from the Livingston County Department of Health says that the seventh annual County Health Rankings, released Thursday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI), ranks Livingston as the 9th healthiest county in the state.

“We are pleased that Livingston County is one of the top ten healthiest counties,” said County Administrator Ian Coyle. “Livingston County is fortunate to have many collaborative partnerships and vital services which continue to improve the health of our community. Our community is working to address chronic diseases, substance abuse, mental health and falls among seniors by implementing innovative programs and policy changes, and increasing access to health care.”

Livingston County has always been in the upper tier of healthiest counties since the rankings began, but its rank slipped over the past few years. Livingston was ranked number one in 2013, then fell to 7th in 2015 and 12th in 2016.

The Department of Health says that Livingston County has strengths in the health outcome areas such as, quality of life and length of life. Per the data, the community is also seeing improvement in preventable hospital stays, uninsured, and high school graduation rates. Areas for improvement in the matters of health behaviors include adult smoking and adult obesity and clinical care, which include primary care physicians.

The Livingston County Community Health Improvement Plan continues to focus on initiatives regarding chronic disease prevention, mental health promotion and substance abuse prevention, and fall prevention among seniors, which correlate to the areas mentioned above. For more information on the Community Health Assessment, please visit www.livingstoncounty.us/doh.htm.