COVER FEATURE
by B.C. Kowalski
Health rankings Marathon County typically ranks pretty high on these measures — but are they making a difference?
inactivity, and great access to exercise opMarathon County strengths portunities. It scores higher than Marathon One surprise that popped out in Marathon County, which might seem odd since so Count was how few of its driving deaths many great outdoor recreation opportuniwere linked to alcohol consumption. ties exist here. But, as CWOCC President Only 14% of those driving deaths were and Health Department employee Aaron the result of alcohol in 2022. That’s comRuff explains to City Pages, the rankpared to a whopping 36% statewide. That ings look at specific criteria that probably number has been coming down for more doesn’t help Marathon County because of than a decade. The data fluctuates a lot in its rural nature. the county but it has almost always been The county has an extraordinarily low lower as a percentage of driving deaths number of teen births, few people who are than the state as a whole. uninsured, and has low ratios of doctors to Physical inactivity is another strength, residents (in other words, a high number of though it’s slightly higher than the state as doctors relevant to the population). a whole. Just 24% of people report no leiA high number of students who graduate sure time physical activity. It might sound high school and some college, few children in poverty (3%) and next to no air pollution bad that nearly one quarter of the population gets no exercise, but Marathon County round out the list. Some of these are stats Marathon County has the lowest percentage of inactive folks of any other central Wisconsin county would die for. besides Portage County (23%) But that said, the county has plenty of The percentage of the population who strengths that helped it rank 16th in the is uninsured has dropped dramatically in state. the past decade, and is low in Marathon Marathon County Health County compared to the rest Officer Laura Scudiere of the state. From a peak of says the Marathon County 11% of the population in 2012, Health Department takes the percentage of uninsured the results very seriously, people dropped to 7% this and that they can help idenyear. Marathon County and the tify strengths and highlight state as a whole has repeatedly areas for health officials to outperformed the country at work on. “This shows you large in this measure. (In 2019 a lot of the social determithe United States as a whole nants and how we’re doing had 11% of its population on them,” Scudiere told City uninsured.) Pages. “We’re one of the The percentage of people top performers and that’s a who completed high school good thing.” Laura Scudiere (92%) was in line with the state percentage (93%) and who completed some college in the county (71% in Marathon County, 70% statewide). Unemployment in the county (5%) was much lower than the state rate (6.3%). And far fewer children were in poverty in Marathon County (8%) than in the state (12%). In Marathon County that’s been trending downward since a peak of 19% in 2010. Some other measures not highlighted by PAC K AG E S AVA I L A B L E . P E R M A N E N T R E S U LT S . the survey’s data tool but where Marathon OVE R 3 0 YE ARS E XPE RI E NCE . had far better outcomes than the state as a whole were children in single-parent households (16% in Marathon County, 23% statewide) and violent crime (115 per capita in Marathon County versus 298 statewide).
If someone attends enough Marathon County government meetings, there is a phrase they’ll eventually hear repeated. Repeated a lot. As in, enough times that it starts to become like a song you can’t get unstuck from your head. It’s something they’ll hear from supervisors in making an argument, and it will go something like this “Well if we’re really aiming to be the healthiest, safest and most prosperous county in the state, then…” followed by their argument. They’re quoting the county’s mission statement. Marathon County does indeed aim to be the healthiest, safest and most prosperous county in the state. Well, it’s definitely one of better ones, but the county hasn’t yet completed that mission. How do we know that? The County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, a program of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, every year puts together an enormous amount of data around county health measures. All of the factors combined to give Marathon County a ranking of 16th out of 72 counties in the state. That’s not bad. As reported in a cover story this reporter wrote way back in 2014, Marathon County ranked 24th. So 16th is definitely an improvement. So who’s No. 1? This year that distinction belongs to Ozaukee County. Ozaukee is north of Milwaukee County and has the city of Port Washington (think TGIF show Step by Step) and Cedarburg. The worst is Menomonie County, southeast of Antigo and not all that far from us. So what is Ozaukee doing right? It has a high food environment index, low physical
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May 19-26, 2022
Some challenges Binge drinking is a problem in Marathon County as it is in Wisconsin as a whole. In both the county and the state, 25% of people surveyed reported excessive drinking. In top performing counties nationwide, that percentage is only 15%. Marathon County Captain Ryan Weber
says that while it’s tough to track specific numbers, anecdotally speaking, excessive alcohol can lead to lower inhibitions and an increase in crime. In Marathon County, 32% of adults were obese (BMI of 30 or more). While 34% were obese statewide, in top performing counties only 30% were considered obese. And 17% of adults smoked; more than the 16% of Wisconsinites and 15% nationwide who do so. One area oddly not highlighted by the comparison tool but an area where Marathon County struggles: Mental health providers. In Marathon County the ratio was 480:1; statewide it was 440:1 and top counties had ratios as low as 250:1. That’s a problem, considering the increase in numbers of teens reporting anxiety, suicidal thoughts and other mental health concerns on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey done every two years. The trends have been getting worse since the first surveys in 2015 and this year’s results, delayed due to COVID, are expected soon. They are expected by most experts to show an even further decline. What can be done? City Pages reached out to Aspirus to learn what they are working on in this area. Aspirus System Behavioral Health Director Nicki Williams says Aspirus is in the process of hiring another psychiatrist, and the health organization plans to hire more therapists in the future. “We have spent a significant amount of time expanding telehealth services both through telehealth devices and video visits at home which has increased access,” Williams said in a statement to City Pages. “The wait time for appointments within Aspirus Behavioral Health has also decreased significantly from a year ago.” A consortium of medical professionals started a program to bring more mental health help to area schools and the Wausau School District recently passed a referendum (2021) to increase the number of mental health professionals in the district’s schools. Scudiere says improving mental health is a priority for the county. “It continues to be a problem,” she told City Pages. The goal is to attract providers to the area and keep them here. North Central Health Care and Bridge Community Clinic, Scudiere points out, have sliding scale fees to help access. Other tools around mental health are available today that simply didn’t exist 10 years ago. Applications such as BetterHealth and TalkSpace can provide affordable access to therapists without the need to leave one’s home. There are even specialized platforms for couples or LGBTQ patients. (Also worth noting, access to those services won’t show up in the health rankings.)
Aiming for improvement How should counties view the rankings? After all, there are a number of ways in which Marathon County could measure itself. The county could compare its progress over time. It could look at how it measures up against the state, and or other counties within the state. Or, it could choose to measure itself against like counties (the platform has a tool in which to do just that, with a drop-down of counties that
