A detailed assessment of health in Hamilton County concludes that areas such as addiction, infant mortality, obesity and the need for health care reform should be among the top priorities in the coming years.
The report, which local health officials presented today to Hamilton County commissioners, is compiled every four years and offers a “snapshot of health” in the county, officials said.
“It helps us guide out efforts for targeted prevention and improving health care, and then hopefully influence public policy,” Becky Barnes, administrator for the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department, said to the commissioners.
This year, the report has been expanded to cover injury and violent, mental health and alcohol use and communicable diseases, she said.
Among the key data findings, average life expectancy in Hamilton County increased from 76 years in 1999 to 77.2 years in 2007, although self-reported general health status is sinking.
The number of Hamilton County adults reporting good or better health decreased from 80.4 percent in 1999 to 78.6 in 2007, said Kasey Decosimo, lead author of the report and assessment and planning program manager and health planner for the local health department.
For complete details see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.