Tolland tops county list in health study

  • 2014-05-19
The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps of 2014 named Vernon's own Tolland County as the leading county in the state when it comes to health outcomes.

Each of the eight counties in Connecticut was judged in two categories: how healthy the county is (health factors) and the influences on its health (health outcomes). Tolland triumphed in the latter, but came second in the former as well. Each county's score in health outcomes seemed to roughly reflect its score in health factors, with New Haven and Windham scoring the lowest in both categories.

The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps releases this data so that each county can make changes to improve the health and lifestyles of its residents. The Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation worked together to analyze each state, and almost all counties, in the country. On the program's website are more detailed reports on the counties, how they compare to each other, and the health of the state overall. The report goes into detail on habits like diet, exercise, and drug abuse, as well as the socioeconomic status of the area and access to good healthcare.

If community board members wish to share this information with their colleagues, they might need the help of a poster printing company to make the data colorful and clear.