Wyandotte County ranks 97th among Kansas counties in health

By NICK SLOAN, NJSloan212@gmail.com

Though it did not rank dead last in this year’s Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings study, Wyandotte County still has a long way to go in terms of getting healthy.

Wyandotte County ranked 97^th among counties in Kansas, meaning a little ground has been gained after the county ranked dead last in Kansas in the study two years ago.

Still, there’s plenty to improve on for the county. 

Measured were statistics in the following areas – overall health, social and economic factors, physical environment, health behaviors and access to health care and clinical care.

The study points to a handful of trouble-spots for Wyandotte County:

• The level of adult obesity in Wyandotte County is 38 percent, 8 percent higher than the average county in Kansas.

• Over 750 cases of sexually transmitted infections and diseases were reported in Wyandotte County the past year, more than doubling the average county in Kansas.

• The rate of uninsured citizens in Wyandotte County is 21 percent.

• The teen birth-rate in Wyandotte County almost doubles that of the average county in Kansas.

• Over 35 percent of the children in Wyandotte County live in poverty, almost double from the average county in Kansas.

• Nearly 45 percent of all children in the county live in single-parent households.

Those stats are not positive, but Wyandotte County did compare favorable in a few areas.

For every 794 residents in Wyandotte County, there’s a doctor. The number is better than Kansas average, which is 857:1. 

The county also favored comparably in terms of access to recreational facilities.