Cowley County mostly fell within the national average across several categories in the latest county health rankings but was often below the bar compared to fellow Sunflower State counties.
“These rankings are calculated yearly and used to track the influence of various factors on community health,” the City-Cowley County Health Department stated in a news release Monday. “However, this year, there have been some marked changes to the rankings. Previous years assigned a number to each county based on the number of counties in a state. This number reflected the rank of each county on a scale of least healthy to most healthy within a state.
“This ranking system has been replaced by new ‘Health Summary’ visualizations. These visualizations depict a continuum which shows the range for the entire state and includes every county. Also featured are the state and national averages. This new method provides a better picture of the trends that affect the health of not just counties, but the state and nation as a whole.”
The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps report is a program of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The report was released in partnership with the Kansas Health Institute in Topeka.
In adult obesity, 44 percent of the Cowley County had a BMI of 30 or greater. That’s higher than the national average of 34 percent and the Kansas average of 37 percent. Along those lines, Cowley County was also above both the national and state averages when it came to physical inactivity, with 30 percent of adults reporting participating in no physical activity outside of work. Both the national and state average reported 23 percent, for comparison.
Cowley County had a much higher teen birth rate contrasted to state and national numbers.
From 2016-2022, Cowley County reported 26 teen births per 1,000 females ages 15-19. Nationally that rate was 17 and statewide 19.
Cowley County also struggles in healthcare access compared to national and state trends.
The availability of primary care physicians is much more sparse for Cowley County. In 2021, there was one primary care physician per 2,460 people. Nationally that ratio was one per 1,330. Statewide the ratio was one per 1,280.
It’s a trend that has worsened for Cowley County since 2010, according to the snapshot.
Cowley County also falls behind when it comes to mental health providers.
For 2023, Cowley County had one mental health provider per 600 people, while nationally that ratio was 320:1 and 420:1 across the state.
On a positive note, Cowley County faired far better than state and national comparisons regarding alcohol-impaired driving deaths. For the years 2017-2021, Cowley County reported 10 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths involved alcohol. That’s far lower than the national average of 26 percent and the state average of 20 percent.
“Examining the data further reveals that many of the health issues affecting the community are ones that the health department is actively engaged in addressing,” the health department said. “Some of the trends identified in the health rankings are moving in the positive direction, showing that progress is being made.
“Communitywide health-related improvements can be difficult to achieve, but we will continue to strive towards improving the health and wellness of every resident of Cowley County.”
More from the report can be examined here and here.
