Residents of Orange County may be among the healthiest in North Carolina according to an annual report on national wellness profiles from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Stacy Shelp, the public information officer of the Orange County Health Department, referred to that report while discussing the two categories in which all counties were assessed.

“Orange County once again does fall right at the top of the charts for the county health rankings,” she relayed. “We are ranked number one for health factors and number two for health outcomes.”

The report measures the current overall health of nearly every county in all 50 states, with researchers having used multiple data points to judge which counties are healthier than others.

“Health factors where we are number one are things like health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors,” explained Shelp. “With health outcomes, you’re really looking at length of life and quality of life.”

Impeccable health care may be available in Orange County, but Shelp also mentioned that a high level of income inequality among residents was cited in the report.

“Some of the nice things that did make us so high on those health rankings are things that our municipalities […] have embraced for a long time — bikeability and walkability and making sure there’s crosswalks and bike lanes and trails accessible to everyone,” she noted. “The outliers of Orange County can’t access the health services, they can’t access those bike lanes, et cetera.”

According to Shelp, the stellar performance of the county in the report may be the result of a holistic approach employed by local leaders to account for full spectrum wellness.

“When we’re looking at things like transportation and affordable housing, those all impact health and so much more,” she claimed. “We really do need to be looking across the spectrum of how we can create access to health.”

In addition to income disparity, Shelp identified substance abuse and mental health as other concerns that the Orange County Health Department is seeking to address.

“We just recently completed a gap analysis to see where service issues were and accessibility issues around mental health services,” she reported. “We’re going to be doing a suicide prevention campaign starting in the fall, and then have added integrated behavioral health specialists to work hand-in-hand with our medical clinical staff.”

Superior rankings notwithstanding, Shelp stressed that the Orange County Health Department would continue to pursue improvements in areas where change can be affected.

“We’ve got a lot of things to work on here in Orange County, and it’s not number one and number two for everybody,” she offered. “Continuing to address the health disparities and inequities here and everywhere, I think, is the critical piece of this.”

The report was compiled by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, whose sole philanthropic focus is health.

Photo by UNC Health Care.

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