Around Botetourt: Healthy citizens? A must.

Is Botetourt County healthy? Not fiscally, but in the health and well-being of the citizenry. It’s not a topic the Board of Supervisors discusses much, but it deserves attention.

Health is more than a doctor’s visit. Many factors influence how long and how well a county’s citizens live. Those factors include education, income, eating and exercising habits, housing quality, and neighborhood safety, among others. The county leaders must increase opportunities for everyone in order to reduce gaps in health. For example, better access to high-quality education and enrichment opportunities can boost workforce skills, which are necessary for upward economic mobility.

Botetourt ranks 25th out 133 localities in Virginia, according to countyhealthrankings.org, a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. While this sounds good, there is room for improvement or the county would rank higher.

The county has a higher premature death rate than the state average. Premature death means the years of potential life lost before the age of 75. Botetourt County has an average of 6,700 while the state averages 6,100, and in this statistic Botetourt County falls to 45th in the state. The main causes of death are cancer, heart disease, accidents, and respiratory ailments.

The county also scores poorly in adult obesity, physical inactivity, and alcohol-impaired driving deaths, with higher than state averages in the latter two categories. The county has a higher than state average of folks who are monitoring diabetes, too.

Additionally, the number of women who are receiving mammography screenings is lower than the state average and this number has worsened in the last several years.

This particular study also considers driving alone to work to be an adverse health condition, and Botetourt County scores high in this category at 89 percent compared to the state average of 77 percent.

However, access to health care may be one of the most important factors that county leaders need to address. Currently, there is one physician for every 1,850 people in the county. There is one dentist for every 3,320 people in the county, and one mental health care provider for every 2,560 people in the county. These ratios are all considerably higher than the state averages. (One mental health care provider for every 680 people is the state average, for example).

The county scores well in high school graduation, at 92 percent compared to 86 percent statewide. While a 9 percent rate for children in poverty is less than the state average of 14 percent, the number in Botetourt has climbed in recent years.

This study indicates that for many county citizens, the essential elements for a healthy life are readily available. Others, however, have limited choices.

It up to county leaders to do what they can to help each citizen have the opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This means removing obstacles to health such as poverty and discrimination, enhancing educational opportunities, and offering safe housing, among other things. When communities have safe drinking water, early childhood education, improved neighborhood safety, or reduced obesity, all benefit.

Additionally, county leaders may want to investigate opportunities to bring in more health care facilities. The new YMCA is a good start, but more physicians, dentists, and mental health care providers must be available to county citizens if residents are to thrive, and not simply survive.

–Story and photo by Anita Firebaugh