(Jeannie Kever, Houston Chronicle)
If you live in Fort Bend County, feel free to be a bit smug. You, or at least your neighbors, are a little healthier than the rest of us.
Most Houston-area counties fared well in a county-by-county health ranking released Tuesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The study added weight to something researchers long have known: better-educated people tend to be healthier.
That helps to explain why suburban residents generally ranked higher on health outcomes and on factors that influence those outcomes – smoking, poverty levels, educational attainment and access to health care.
Fort Bend County residents ranked the highest of all counties in the metro area, at No. 9 on both measures. Harris County ranked 53rd out of the state’s 254 counties for health outcomes – that looks at how many people die early, as well as how many have chronic illnesses – but dropped to No. 160 for health factors.
(Read more at the Houston Chronicle)
Full Report:
Roadmaps to Health (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
OTHER HEADLINES:
- After Ferocious Texas Tornadoes, Two Incredibly Welcome Words: ‘No Deaths’ (KUHF Public Radio)
- First HISD Bell Schedule Meeting Set For Tonight (KUHF Public Radio)
- Mom: Bullies Forced Me to Move Son Out of Home (KTRK 13 News)
- HISD Holds Ceremony at Eco-Friendly Campus (KTRK 13 News)
- Texas Could Use Feds’ Grants to Free Up Women’s Health Money (Texas Tribune)
- Houston Judge Upset by Obama’s Comments on Health Care Law (Houston Chronicle)
OPINIONS ON THE NEWS:
Storms Will Come: Are We Properly Focused?
- Getting Ready For the Next Big One
(Editorial, Houston Chronicle)
“Our governments need to stop subsidizing development in surge zones, and embrace the idea of a coastal buffer zone. The question isn’t whether another big hurricane will strike our coast. The question is when.” - Beach Ruling is Not in Public Interest
(Editorial, Austin American Statesman)
“The Texas coastline is constantly changing and the risks of purchasing property abutting the ocean are well-known. It is unreasonable, however, to require the state and its taxpayers to shoulder the burden of these risks.”