Volusia County, FL - When it comes to the healthiest counties in the state, new data shows one local county is dropping in the ranks while another rises.
That's according to data from the Florida Department of Health in Volusia and Flagler and CountyHealthRankings.org, operated by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
FDOH Volusia/Flagler use local data and statistics while CHR utilizes different federal sources to measure counties throughout the United States on their broad health outlook and their environment.
In comparison to all 67 counties in Florida, Flagler rises to 9th place from 14th, but Volusia fell from 44th to 46th.
Volusia's highest rank in the past five years peaked at 40th in 2016.
One of the larger gaps between both counties can be found in the violent crimes category, which documents the number of violent crimes reported per 10,000 people. There, Volusia outpaced Flagler with 428 cases to 243.
Injury-related deaths were also higher in Volusia, with 87 cases reported per 10,000 people compared to Flagler’s 74.
Another problem highlighted by this study was drinking water quality with both counties. CHR found that Volusia has documented drinking water violations while Flagler does not.
Premature deaths was another factor that Volusia surpassed Flagler with. According to CHR, premature deaths, or Years Of Potential Life Lost (YPLL), focuses attention on deaths that could have been prevented, which mostly emphasizes deaths of younger persons and not the elderly.
For example, using the age of 75 as a benchmark (as CHR did), a death at age 55 counts twice as much as a death at the age of 65 and one at 35 counts eight times as much as one at 70.
In that categor, Volusia has 9,300 documented cases of premature death while Flagler had 7,700.
And while it seems Volusia may be far from Flagler on some statistics, the counties do share some similarities.
The rate of people under 65 who are uninsured in both counties sits at 15%, which is the same as the state's rate.
And in health factors, meaning what impacts resident's health, such as smoking, drinking, mental health and environment, both counties rank close with Volusia at 27th and Flagler at 21st.
