Washington 12th Healthiest State in US
The United Health Foundation made public today their year long study on the health all 50 states in the Union. Washington State claimed the twelfth spot on this years report. Washington was also noted as oneof the five most improved states, having moved three spots in the overall rankings from fifteenth in 2006.
This year’s healthiest state in the nation is vermont, and it is a story from which Washington State should take inspiration from. In 1990, Vermont was 16th in state health rankings; by 2001, the state had moved up to 8th, and today Vermont is number one for over all health.
In 2003, Washington State the idea to form the Washington Health Foundation’s (WHF) Healthiest State in the nation campaign was born from the fact that our state had slipped to 17th in the national health rankings. Shortly after this. WHF kicked off its healthiest state in the nation campaign to attention to areas in which Washington State needed to making improvements in it’s health systems. Today, the Healthiest State Campaign is the largest civic engagement project for health in state history, now involving more thatn 35,000 individuals, 980 organizations and over 360 schools.
In the 2007 edition of America’s Health Rankings released today, two areas Washington State increased the most were in the following measures:
- Child poverty rates continued to decrease, where Washinton’s rank improved from 21st to 4th best in the nation.
- The percentage of Washington residents with health insurance continued to increase improving Washington’s rank from 23rd to 14th overall.
Vermont was ranked as the healthiest state in the nation, with Minnesota, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Connecticut rounding out the top five. Mississippi is the least-healthy state, with Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee completing the bottom five.
“We’re absolutely moving in the right direction,” said state Health Secretary Mary Selecky, who pointed to Gov. Chris Gregoire’s push to lower tobacco rates as a bedrock to the state’s low heart disease and cancer rates. She also credits the expansion of the state’s Child Profile Immunization Registry, where physicians can keep track of a child’s vaccine records, for improved rates, but admits the state has been slow to adopt the chickenpox vaccine and looks to improve on the immunizations.
Jerry Campbell - Muljat Group - Bellingham, WA 98225 - Bellingham Real Estate