EVANSTON — A recent MSN slideshow entitled “The worst county to live in in each state,” used criteria such as five-year population change, educational attainment, poverty rate and life expectancy to select one county in each of the 50 states as the worst place to live. Uinta County was selected as the worst in Wyoming. 

A few statistics included in the slide about Uinta County were the 18.2 percent of adults with a bachelor’s degree (the second smallest number in the state) and the nearly 17 percent of residents who live in poverty (the second highest number in the state). These two factors of education and income have a lot to do with overall health and a third number, the average life expectancy of 77.4 years, more than a year less than the state and national average. 

Uinta County Public Health Nurse Kim Proffit is all too familiar with statistics such as these. For more than a year, Proffit and Uinta County Public Health have been working with other community agencies and individuals as the Healthy Evanston Coalition, a group created because of Uinta County’s low ranking in the annual Robert Wood Johnson Foundation County Health Rankings. 

The health rankings examine multiple factors related to individual health and then rank each county within a state on both health factors and health outcomes. In 2017, Uinta County was ranked 17th out of the 23 Wyoming counties on health factors and 21st out of 23 counties on health outcomes. 

As bleak as these numbers may seem, they are actually an improvement from the 2016 health rankings, when Uinta County ranked 21st on health factors and 22nd on health outcomes. 

Proffit said the Healthy Evanston Coalition has been meeting monthly over the past year to examine what is behind the county’s poor ranking and to come up with ways to address the problem. 

The result of these months of hard work is the upcoming launch of the “Healthy Evanston; Get on Board” campaign that will be officially launching on April 14 to coincide with the Evanston Women’s Conference. The goal of the campaign is to address many of the problem areas that may be negatively impacting community health. 

In looking at the individual factors in the county’s health ranking, there are a few areas that immediately stand out because of significant differences between Uinta County and state and national averages. 

For example, Uinta County has far more people for each primary care physician in the area, with the average in the rest of the state at 1460 people for each physician. In Uinta County, it’s 2320 people for each physician. 

Educational attainment, one of the factors listed for the poor ranking on the MSN slideshow, is also lower than the state average. The percentage of people in the county with “some” college education is 55 percent, while in the rest of the state the average is nearly 70 percent. 

The two statistics that really jump out, however, are “access to exercise opportunities” and “social associations.” 

The access to exercise opportunities number is based on the percentage of the population with adequate access to locations for physical activity. While the average in the rest of Wyoming is 65 percent, the average in Uinta County is an abysmal 15 percent. 

The social associations number is based on the number of associations or involvements per 10,000 people. Again, the difference between Uinta County and the statewide average is stark, with the county coming in at 5.7 and the rest of the state averaging 13.3. 

Proffit said these two statistics jump out at her as well. She said that although there are exercise opportunities in the county, like the many programs offered at the Evanston Recreation Center or the walking trails through the Bear Park, part of what is measured in the access to exercise opportunities number is whether people perceive they have such opportunities. “Perception is a big part of it. If people feel they don’t have exercise opportunities, then they don’t,” she said. 

To address this, the Healthy Evanston Coalition has taken steps to ensure the community not only has access to opportunities, but that individuals are also aware of the many opportunities that are available. 

For example, there is now a track-only pass available at the Evanston Rec Center for those who are only interested in walking. “There are no strings attached and you don’t have to have a recommendation,” she said. “Just go to the Rec Center and ask for it.” With the track-only pass admission to the Rec Center is only $1.50 or 20 visits for $25. 

The Healthy Evanston campaign will include several other components. Proffit said there will be a website where people can join the campaign, with multiple options for tracking activity and diet, as well as a Facebook page people can follow to stay informed on community events and recreational opportunities. It will be free to join the campaign and start tracking activity. 

She said the plan is to have monthly activities during the summer months, like Tai Chi in the park as one possibility. A big part of the website and Facebook page will be to “promote what’s already in place,” said Proffit.

Things like the CentSible Nutrition program, the Healthy U Class on chronic disease self-management, Uinta County Public Health Wellness Clinics and the Happy Hiker Club for senior citizens will definitely be promoted to try to get the word out to people who may want to participate. 

Proffit said she hopes the site will also include videos of prominent people in the community talking about what they do to stay healthy, as well as ways to participate in healthy lifestyle challenges among individuals and even businesses. Reaching out to the school district to involve young people in the campaign is also a goal. 

She said not only will the campaign hopefully get people more active and taking advantage of the exercise opportunities the community does have to offer but will hopefully also get people participating and meeting new people to help address the low social associations number reflected in the County Health Rankings. The website may even include a mechanism to track hours spent volunteering or participating in new community activities in an effort to encourage people to build their social networks. 

According to Proffit, the statistics reflected in both the MSN slideshow and the County Health Rankings are all inter-related. That’s why the Healthy Evanston Coalition has included individuals from numerous agencies working together.

“Education, poverty, recreation, community involvement and health — all those things go together,” she said. “You can’t really address just one because they’re all connected.” 

Although the website has not officially launched, people can follow Uinta County Public Health on Facebook to get information on the Healthy Evanston campaign. There will also be booths with information at both the Evanston Women’s Conference and other community events, such as Cinco de Mayo and the Community Baby Shower in May.