A recent study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ranked residents of Montezuma County 54th out of 57 Colorado counties tested for overall health.
Kate OBrien, a registered nurse with the Montezuma County Health Department, said the information is nothing new to local health officials.
Kids are watching a lot more TV, OBrien said. Fast food plays a big part in most peoples day, if not at least a couple days out of the week, just because its convenient.
The 2011 County Health Rankings places Montezuma County 56 out of 57, next to last, for mortality with a rating of 9,716 for premature deaths, compared to the 6,094 state average. The rating is based on the years of potential life lost before age 75.
OBrien warned that such studies can have a high margin of error and inconsistencies in the studies such as the inclusion or exclusion of Native American reservations can skew the results.
Theres so many factors that play a role that its hard to pinpoint just one, she said.I think its specific to each family.
OBrien encourages individuals to take small steps in exercising more and taking fewer trips through the drive through.
It takes work to be healthy, she said. And when youve already worked a full day and you have kids that you have to get home and take care of or do homework with, you look at the easier option.
For individuals too tired to prepare food, OBrien encourages making smarter choices when ordering.
The nice thing is, some of the fast food places have more options, she said. You can do milk with your kids meals. You can do apple slices or a banana. ... Its not just telling somebody, Youre bad because all you do is eat fast food. You shouldnt. You should tell them, Go make healthier choices.
Parents can be particularly influential on the eating habits of children, who are now playing more video games and drinking sports drinks and energy drinks designed for adult athletes, OBrien said.
It takes knowing that you are your kids model, she said What you do, theyre going to do. So its not just telling them its what they need to do. Its what you need to do as well because a lot of behaviors are learned, and theyre learned from their parents.
The study indicates that one in four children in Montezuma County live below the poverty level.
Dr. Patrick Remington, a researcher at the University of Wisconsins Population Health Institute, said suburbs tend to have higher paying jobs.
Whereas rural communities often are dealing with loss of businesses and declining populations of young people, who tend to be healthier, he said.
The findings were released online Wednesday.
Residents of rural communities also tend to have less education, less access to health care, and higher rates of substance abuse and smoking, all factors that contribute to the rankings. The rankings compare counties within each state. Theyre based on data from vital statistics and government health surveys. In many cases, several years of data are used to calculate rankings, Remington said.
For that reason, many rankings this year are similar to those from the 2010 report. Premature deaths people dying before age 75 of preventable diseases; self-reported health status; and the percent of low birth-weight babies contribute to the rankings. Other measures include obesity rates, unemployment, high school graduation rates and pollution.
James Marks, director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundations health group, said last years report resulted in an impressive amount of action in many counties that fared poorly. With annual rankings planned in the future, he said the reports likely will spur real improvement in Americans health.
Seven Colorado counties were not ranked: Cheyenne, Dolores, Hinsdale, Jackson, Kiowa, Mineral and San Juan.
On the Net: www.countyhealthrankings.org.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reach Reid Wright at reidw@cortezjournal.com.