At a tense moment late in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s recent basketball game against Radford University, my 9-year-old granddaughter, Naomi, stood and let fly her first cheer of the contest: “Make a plan! Make a plan!”
Perhaps the players heard her because they achieved a two-point win.
Clif CleavelandAs I review grim statistics in public health for Tennessee and surrounding states, Naomi’s words seem applicable in a new vein.
In almost every category of chronic illness, states of the Deep South rank near the bottom with high incidences of obesity, diabetes mellitus, cigarette smoking, heart disease and addiction to opiates. Rankings of all 50 states can be accessed at www.americashealthrankings.org. These rankings place Tennessee 43rd, Georgia 40th, Alabama 46th and Mississippi 49th in terms of overall health.
The same states with high incidences of chronic disease also are among the most impoverished. In Tennessee, 18.3 percent of residents live in poverty. Almost 8 percent live in deep poverty, which for a family of four means an annual household income of less than $12,000. Twenty-six percent of Tennessee children live in poverty.