Ulster County health ranking in NY state drops sharply; health commissioner cites surge in opioid-related deaths

A widely watched annual national report shows Ulster County’s health outcomes fell sharply from 15th among New York’s 62 counties last year to 28th this year.

But health factors in Ulster County improved from 19th last year to 16th this year, according to the 2018 county health rankings released Wednesday by the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The measure of health outcomes is intended to be a snapshot of the current health of residents, while health factors is an assessment of the opportunities for residents to be healthy in the future.

READ the report here

Ulster County Executive Michael Hein has made it a goal of his administration to make Ulster the healthiest county in New York.

County Health Commissioner Dr. Carol Smith said a surge in opioid-related deaths is largely to blame for Ulster’s diminished ranking in health outcomes.

“We have focused our efforts and resources on preventing opioid addiction and overdose,” Smith said n a prepared statement Wednesday afternoon. “However, in 2016, Ulster County experienced a spike in overdose deaths that brought us closer to rates other counties in the region have seen for years. Because of this, we are not surprised that premature death, primarily caused by opioid overdose, has impacted our ranking this year.”

Smith said Ulster County “will continue to work aggressively toward solutions to this national public health crisis with our partners and strive to have a community where not a single life is lost because of drugs.”

Dutchess County ranked 14th for health outcomes today and ninth for health factors for the future, an improvement from 17th in health outcomes last year and unchanged from last year in health factors.

Columbia County improved from 30th in health outcomes in 2017 to 20th this year, while health factors remained the same at 13th.

Greene County’s health outcomes improved from 53rd in 2017 to 47th this year, while its health factors improved from 47th to 39th.

Sullivan County remained next-to-last in the state, with health outcomes remaining the same as last year at 61st. Only the Bronx was ranked lower, at 62nd. Sullivan County’s health factors improved, though, from 58th in 2017 to 47th this year.

Orange County improved from being ranked 23rd in health outcomes and 24th in health factors last year to 21st in health outcomes and 17th in health factors this year.