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Lawrence County Health Ranks Last In Survey
By: Alyssa Hansen
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Lawrence County is ranked dead last in terms of the region's health.
That's according to a recent survey by Health Outcomes of the state's 88 counties.
That figure drew the attention of David Lucas of Ohio University-Southern.
He says there are several reasons why Lawrence County ranks so poorly.
"We have low access to primary health providers, high use of tobacco, obesity, and very high unemployment with low employment there, so I think these things all come together to make a perfect storm," says Lucas.
Lucas says six task forces are being set up to help fight some of those issues.
"What we're gonna do is set up what we're calling six active circles, and these circles will each be charged with one of the six areas that the people look at when they do these measures. We're gonna do a project and then a program to address each one of the measures as we go along so that hopefully over the passage of time, we'll be able to improve the health of Lawrence County, Ohio," says Lucas.
Lucas says that a health and wellness summit will be held this weekend on Saturday to call on people who have the power to do something when it comes to improving Lawrence County's status.
He says he wants to move the county up at least five spots in the rankings.
Lucas appeared on WOUB TV's Newswatch last night.