Manatee County’s health ranking rises, but ‘there’s always room for improvement’

While it pushed its ranking into the top 20 healthiest counties, Manatee County said it still has work to do.

In the latest County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, an annual study from the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Manatee ranked 17th out of 67 counties in Florida, bumped up from 21st the year before. Sarasota County is ranked sixth in the state, falling from a rank of third last year. But, over the past eight years, Sarasota has remained in the top 10 out of 67 counties.

“While these numbers for Manatee County are encouraging, there’s always room for improvement,” said Tom Iovino, spokesman for the Florida Department of Health in Manatee County.

The rankings take into account a variety of factors, such as behavior, access to health care, socioeconomics and the environment. It even puts weight on issues that you may not immediately associate with health, such as violent crime, unemployment or driving for long hours.

It’s a “holistic approach,” Iovino said.

Counties such as Manatee and Sarasota use a Community Health Improvement Plan, or CHIP, to partner with various groups such as the Healthcare Alliance to improve health and overall happiness of its citizens.

The Florida Department of Health in Manatee County credits several methods laid out with their plan to better the community’s health. These include creating the Manatee Square Garden and Community Orchard, established in May 2017 to recognize food deserts in the area; a partnership with the Bradenton Food Bank to create healthier options for families participating in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food program; and a new brightly colored Health Coach used by the department beginning in October that acts as a mobile health testing and education site.

“We are very pleased to announce that through the hard work and cooperation of our many partners, Manatee County has made substantial improvements in this year’s study,” Jennifer Bencie, the health officer for the Manatee health department, said in a press release. “By approaching our challenges as a team, we have been able to make great strides in helping to ensure the health and well-being of our residents and visitors.”

The department lauds its work to improve upon food access, preventable hospital stays, diabetes monitoring and increasing exercise opportunities. But even with efforts to promote healthier food options, obesity is still an area the county needs to work on.

According to the University of Wisconsin rating, 27 percent of adults in Manatee County were obese as of 2014, the latest available data. Iovino said the department will continue to try and educate residents on choosing more produce and fewer processed foods, as well as install healthy workplace initiatives and increase livable neighborhoods.

Another area that the department recognizes is in need of improvement is the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases. As of 2015, there were about 418.5 newly diagnosed cases of chlamydia per 100,000 people in Manatee, according to the study. To address this, Iovino said it’s all about continuing education and availability of condoms.

In Sarasota, the department’s health focuses are weight, substance abuse, mental health and access to health care.

“The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps help us understand what factors have influenced good health in our community and how we can continue to make Sarasota a healthy place to live, learn, work and play,” said Chuck Henry, Sarasota County’s health department health officer, in a press release. “These rankings are a snapshot of the health of counties and emphasize health is not a singular effort but a combined work in progress across all community partners.”

Some of their CHIP programs include establishing a dental sealant program for Title 1 elementary school students and collecting medication with Drug Free Sarasota and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.

“One area we’ve seen major improvements in, but still have a way to go would be the opioid crisis,” Henry added in an email to the Bradenton Herald. “Our CHIPs focus and collaboration has been important to encourage development of community based strategies to address the opioid crisis.”

This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Manatee County’s health ranking rises, but ‘there’s always room for improvement’."