By Stefan Yablonski
Oswego County is ranked one of the least healthy counties in New York, according to a report by County Health Rankings and Roadmaps.
The 2023 report from the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute looked at data including the ages at which people die, their self-reported health conditions, their health behaviors, their access to health care, social and economic factors and the environment around them.
It ranked Oswego County 49th of 62 counties in New York regarding health outcomes, factors and behaviors.
Things are improving
“We have seen some improvement in that,” said Diane Oldenburg, an associate public health educator at the Oswego County Health Department.
Among the report’s findings were life expectancy in Oswego County, which is 76.8 years. Oneida County was slightly lower at 76.6 and Madison County was the highest at 79.6. Oswego County and Oneida County tied at 21% of adult smokers while Madison County had the lowest 18%.
Adult obesity in the county was 40%. Cayuga County was highest with 41% and Oneida County was lowest at 25%.
Frequent mental distress was at 17% for Oswego, Cayuga, Onondaga and Oneida counties. Madison County was at 16%.
Food insecurity in Oswego County was at 12% while Madison County was at 8%.
“Poverty can be a driving force for things like obesity and smoking,” Oldenburg said. “Economically I think that is still a big challenge in our area.”
Things like smoking and obesity can contribute to poor health outcomes, such as cancer, lung disease and heart disease.
The health department watches the trends of health outcomes and factors like the ones highlighted in the CHR&R report.
The department has many programs and services to address these problems.
While the county is usually in the lower third of the state, Oswego County has been trending in a positive way, she pointed out.
“More people with lower incomes smoke than people at higher income levels,” Oldenburg said. “We are out in schools doing education programs — emotional wellness, suicide prevention —we are in most of the high schools. We are doing a ton of vaping education in the schools right now, talking about the hazards of it. The use of traditional tobacco has declined but vaping is still an issue.”
Education is key
Education is a key factor in positive health outcomes, according to Oldenburg.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, many resources were unavailable. But now the health department is reintroducing the community to a lot of these programs and services,” Oldenburg said. “The department continues to do more with health education programs.
“We are getting out there with some of our living well workshop classes, living well with chronic disease, which really relates to a lot of those risk factors,” she added. “Our classes cover eating healthy, how to be more physically active, medication management, how to talk to your provider and advocate for yourself and more. We have put a lot of positive things in place trying to address some of these problem areas.”
The health department has chronic disease and diabetes self-management programs, fall prevention classes and conducts vaping and mental health education programs in local middle and high schools. It also distributes Narcan (a drug used to treat overdoses), fentanyl test strips and provides training and education to help combat overdoses.
Although it wasn’t included in the overall ranking of the counties, the CHR&R report also noted that Oswego County has a higher rate of drug overdoses compared to New York state overall, with 25 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 people compared to 21.
Living well workshops cover a variety of strategies to help participants manage their health in a supportive, judgment-free group setting. All workshops are free and offer a safe, welcoming space for residents to engage in discussions about their health and well-being with trained professionals.
For information on upcoming workshops, visit www.health.oswegocounty.com
