A preview of a new report from the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department on Wednesday highlighted some key areas - teen pregnancy, uninsured rates, tobacco use - where the county's health status improved since the last report was published in 2015.
But a countywide violent crime rate that's "significantly" higher than the national rate startled Hamilton County commissioners during a presentation by Ione Farrar, program manager in Assessment and Planning at the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department.
"I'm concerned. We talk about being responsible for Hamilton County tax dollars. There needs to be some intervention somewhere in health, in violent crimes," said Warren Mackey, of District 4.
The "Picture of Our Health" report from the health department is based on data gathered and analyzed by the department and published every four years. It will be released and discussed in detail during the monthly Regional Health Council meeting at the health department Monday.
The report includes more than 100 different community health indicators and 11 topic areas ranging from access to health care and causes of death to chronic disease and environmental health factors.
Bright spots for the county since the last report include an increase in the number of individuals with health insurance, a 34 percent drop in teen birth rate, lower rates of smoking during pregnancy and a 15 percent decrease in opioid prescriptions over the last three years. Tim Boyd, of District 8, applauded the decline in teen pregnancies and commended the department for its family planning education efforts.
To calculate violent crimes, the department used 2016 data from the FBI Universal Crime Report for aggravated assault, robbery, rape and murder for all law enforcement agencies in Hamilton County.
"That makes our rate of 675 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Nationally, the figure is 386," Farrar said, adding that puts Hamilton County's violent crime rate 75 percent above the national rate.
Other areas of concern are an increase in drug-related deaths and higher rates of STDs, which Becky Barnes, Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department administrator, said "are not unique in our community."
"This is very much reflective of our state, our country. It's something that we have to keep working on constantly," Barnes said. "Health disparities have come down, but they're still not acceptable."
Katherlyn Geter, of District 5, said she's "tired of seeing slides that show blacks are dying at higher rates than other populations."
"That just does not make sense when we're going into 2020," Geter said. "What can we do differently?"
Barnes said findings from the report will help inform target areas for health department programs and Regional Health Council initiatives in the coming years.
Contact staff writer Elizabeth Fite at efite@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6673.