Letter from the Editor

It would be easy to sit back and be smug about Cleveland County’s fourth place ranking in overall health for the state’s 77 counties. We enjoy a high level of education, good health care availability, relatively clean jobs and recreation opportunities.

But as long as our state ranks near the bottom in terms of overall health, Cleveland County can’t rest. Literally.

The United Health Foundation ranked Oklahoma 49th among states in overall health. Only Mississippi saved us from total embarrassment.

We eat too much, smoke too much and don’t get enough exercise. The number of families in and out of poverty lacking health insurance is also relatively high. An estimated 600,000 Oklahomans don’t have health insurance.

Adult and childhood obesity, a cause for First Lady Michelle Obama, is a huge problem for our state. Twenty years ago, 12 percent of our population was considered obese. It’s now 31 percent. One report says by 2018, more than half of all Oklahomans will be considered obese.

 Smoking rates have come down slightly among the young but it’s still too high. Public health officials have some advice for us: Eat less. Quit smoking. Move more.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 12:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.