Nye ranks 16th out of 17 Nevada counties in health factors

A 2017 County Health Rankings report put Nye 16th out of 17 Nevada counties in health outcomes and health factors.

The annual County Health Rankings is a joint effort between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute that provides a snapshot of residents’ health in almost every county across the nation.

John Packham, director of health policy research at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, presented the data on population health status in Nye County on Tuesday.

The study ranked 17 Nevada counties on a variety of health outcome indicators such as the amount of premature deaths, disabilities, self-reported health and self-reported mental health.

“With respect to the outcomes, Nye was close to the bottom of the rankings where one is good and 17 is poor. Only Mineral County ranks more poorly than Nye,” Packham said.

Nye also had a high number of factors leading to poor health outcomes. With the exception of physical environment where the county ranked in the middle of the pack, Packham said Nye performed poorly in health behaviors and clinical care measures.

“And those are largely functioned out of pretty severe workforce shortages that have dogged Nye County and Clark County in Southern Nevada, and as your population grows, you won’t be able to come out of it,” Packham said. “Population growth is outpacing the number of providers you are able to recruit and retain here in Pahrump and the rest of Nye County.”

Primary care

Packham also noted shortages in primary care physicians and mental health providers in Nye County along with low screening rates and monitoring of chronic disease conditions.

“One of the things that the Affordable Care Act did deliver on was law mandating that public and private insurance cover evidence-based screening areas such as mammography, and again, despite that change in the law, we still see pretty low screening and preventative services here in Nye County,” Packham said.

With respect to health behaviors, the study showed one in five adults smoking in Nye County. In addition, about one-third of the county’s population meets the clinical definition of obesity.

“You have issues with access to things as simple as fresh fruits and vegetables for some county residents,” Packham said.

The rankings point to high levels of physical inactivity coupled with poor opportunities to get outside and exercise, Packham said.

The report also highlights social and economic factors responsible for the poor health outcomes.

“You may be turning a corner on unemployment, that situation improving, but we are still seeing poor high school graduation rates, poor college-going rates, again comparing to neighboring counties here in Nevada and the state as a whole,” Packham said.

Officials offer solution

Following the presentation, Nye County commissioners decided to pursue the idea of convening the board of health to improve the county’s poor health rankings.

Elko and Churchill counties have already convened their boards of health - a measure that helps to keep counties’ health issues on the commissioners’ radar.

Joseph Iser, chief health officer of the Southern Nevada Health District, said Nye County could benefit from developing a board of health.

“We are happy to help you with technical assistance about how to do that,” Iser said. “Essentially, you five are the majority of that board of health, so that you can start to look locally at what your health issues are, and start to work with the state to get information about what your local health issues are.”

Maurine Budahl, Nye County health officer, said that the board could utilize already existing resources.

“We have a senior center, and there are ways to bring in programs through the senior center. We have a Nye Communities Coalition that already does tremendous amounts of preventative programs. … There are things that we have here that we can utilize to start the conversation because we need to start somewhere,” Budahl said.

Nye County officials voiced different reactions to the study.

“It’s no mystery to me, we have a large senior population. That’s one of the reasons,” Nye County Commission Chairman Dan Schinhofen said.

Assemblyman James Oscarson, R-Pahrump, said since Desert View Hospital was purchased by Universal Health Services Inc. there’s been a movement toward providing additional health services.

“We’ve got facilities opening up with HealthCare Partners Medical Group, they are going to add a tremendous amount of additional services to this county,” said Oscarson, an executive at Desert View.

“I fully expect these numbers to change and turn,” Oscarson said.

Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77