McLean County Ranks 14th out of 102 Counties in overall health rankings
BLOOMINGTON, IL. - According to the 2023 County Health Rankings & Roadmap report released by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, McLean County ranks 14th out of 102 counties in the state of Illinois for overall health ranking, moving up from 15th in 2022 and maintaining its status in the top quartile of Illinois rankings. The report provides communities with data on more than 90 health-influencing factors that shape the social, economic, and environmental components that together influence how long and how well people live.
“What resources we have in our community and how well we utilize those resources has a direct impact on building and improving community health. McLean County places a high priority on creating and promoting such resources. But we can always do better, and the County Health Rankings report is a helpful tool that measures the effectiveness of our efforts,” said McLean County Health Department (MCHD) Administrator Jessica McKnight.
County Health Rankings are based on a model of community health that uses dozens of evidence-based measures that influence overall community health. The goal is to help communities understand how healthy their residents are today (health outcomes) and what things can be improved to live longer and healthier lives (health factors).
Health Factors include: health behaviors such as such diet & exercise, and drug & alcohol use; clinical care factors like access to care; social & economic factors such as education, income, family & social support, and community safety; and physical environmental factors like housing and transit. Health Outcomes that are measured include: premature deaths (life lost before age 75); the percentage of adults reporting fair or poor health; the average number of poor mental health days reported; and the percentage of newborns with low birthweight.
In the most recent report McLean County ranked high in a number factors including life expectancy (average life expectancy 79.4), a low percentage of residents under the age of 65 without health insurance, and low teen births. Other positive factors include the percentage of older residents who had annual flu vaccines and mammography screenings.
The Rankings also indicate that McLean County has opportunities for improvement when it comes to rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), adult obesity, access to exercise opportunities, and broadband access.
“While our high ranking is a positive thing, it is an incomplete picture. We know there are significant differences in health outcomes according to where we live, how much money we make, our level of education, and our access to resources,” added McKnight. “We don’t all start from the same place, but we can work together to ensure everyone has an opportunity to attain their full potential for health and well-being.”
Some measures being taken by the MCHD aimed at improving factors and overall health outcomes in McLean County include screening, testing, treatment, and prevention services for STIs and tuberculosis (TB); HIV/AIDS counseling and testing; a new program aimed at expanding Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV services; health education programs like the Prevent T2 (preventing Type 2 Diabetes) course helping those with prediabetes make achievable lifestyle changes, lose weight, increase physical activity and lower A1C levels; and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, a supplementary nutrition program that provides healthy foods to low-income pregnant and post-partum women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk to ensure good health and development.
The McLean County Board of Health awarded over $1.7 million dollars to local agencies to support core behavioral health services in McLean County during Calendar Year 2023. The funded programming will further boost the prevention, education, and intervention of youth mental health; the mobile crisis team and 211 Call Center; and adult psychiatric services.
Because of lags in data, the 2023 Rankings do not reflect the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily measuring data from 2020 (although some measures also reflect 2021 and 2022 data). Other measures such as unemployment, children in poverty, and median household income are based on a single year of data (2021 data in the 2023 Rankings).
To access the complete 2023 County Health Rankings and Roadmaps report visit: https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/
The McLean County Health Department is dedicated to the prevention and control of disease through health promotion, early intervention, and health protection within the county. More information about health department services can be found at: https://health.mcleancountyil.gov/