ZIP Code Decoded: How Where You Live Matters To Your Health (The Takeaway)

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. About one third of Americans sleep less than seven hours a day, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that surveyed 444,306 adults in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Lack of sleep can lead to obesity, heart disease, and stress. Why aren't people getting enough sleep, and what's the best way to treat it? Dr. Anne Wheaton heads up the sleep program for the CDC. She says that the split between those who do and do not get enough sleep often falls along economic, educational, and ethnic lines. 

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. When we try and determine whether our nation is "healthy" or not, many use statistical averages — nationwide, statewide, or otherwise. But what happens when you look past the "average"? It's now possible to do that using data from the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps project, which was produced as part of a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. It reveals local disparities in health measures between counties across the country. This year's report shows that California has a significant "health gap" — more than 16,000 deaths in The Golden State could be avoided each year if everyone had broadly the same opportunities to be healthy. Jahmal Miller, the deputy director for California's Office of Health Equity, is tackling the health gaps at the state level. In California, he says that health disparities are often linked to food deserts and the absences of affordable, healthy produce.

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment. In the southeastern region of Washington State, you’ll come across the city of Spokane. It’s where hip-hop artist Macklemore led a parade of dancing people and rode a moose-covered two-wheeler in his music video “Downtown.” Music and mopeds aside, there’s another reason Spokane should catch your eye.   For many it is a tough place to grow up. Just under a fifth of children in Spokane county live below the federal poverty line. In 2006, the high school dropout rate in Spokane County was 25.6 percent. At the time, the whole of the The Evergreen State had a dropout rate of just 5.5 percent. Troubling statistics that inspired the community to take action, and a decade later, those actions have been award winning and more importantly, made a lasting impact in places like Central Valley High School. Central Valley High School (CVHS) is a part of the Central Valley School District. Destiny DeHamer, 20, graduated from CVHS in 2014. By that time, the county dropout rate decreased drastically to just over 10 percent. When DeHamer walks the hallways of her old high school, her eyes light up as she describes the feeling of returning to a place she spent four years of her life. “It feels like I grew up here,” DeHamer says. “I don’t know how to describe that, really, but it definitely feels like a part of me is still here.” Central Valley School District consists of 26 learning institutions, and McDonald Elementary is one of them. Melissa “Missy” Scott is a counselor there who captures the nature of the school. “It’s a really caring environment, and I think that there is a focus on the whole child,” Scott says. “We’ve done a lot of research in regard to what things need to be in place to support students and families, so that they can be successful and just learn as much as they can.” Studies show that increasing student success has positive impacts on both education and overall community health. In 2009, an organization run by local representatives of the county called Priority Spokane took steps to make education the main focus of the community.  Scott says some of those steps include creating a truancy board to help students stay in school, a proactive student intervention team, and other initiatives for students and families. Data from the Spokane Regional Health District released in 2012 showed a correlation between parental education levels and child poverty levels. The higher the level of education a parent received, the lower the likelihood of their child’s poverty.  This better understanding of the link between education and health was recognized in 2014 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the correlation between these data points is something that Aaron Dahlgren, a third grade teacher at McDonald Elementary, has thought about a lot too. “Since we have such a high level of students that come from low socioeconomic status, we’ve had book studies or professional development on working with children that come from backgrounds of poverty,” Dahlgren says. His whole teaching career has been inside Title 1 schools, like McDonald Elementary, that aim to close gaps between students regardless of their socioeconomic status. Dahlgren says getting to understand who the students are is key in being able to help them.    “At the classroom level it starts with the relationship,” he says. “It starts on the very first day of school … So many teachers here at our school go to baseball games, dance recitals, or whatever the kids have going on outside of school just to build that relationship and find something that we can get in common with them.”  Back at Central Valley High School, Stanley Chalich has made a career of 48 years doing just that. He builds relationships with students through the sports he coaches and in the classroom where his main subject is civics. DeHamer had him for psychology her sophomore year and civics for senior year. Chalich recalls his former student and describes DeHamer as a “very nice kid” and “a fantastic girl.” Not only does Mr. Chalich know the students, he even remembers things about their families, like how DeHamer’s grandpa was head custodian at the school. Those details are what’s kept Mr. Chalich passionate about being in the classroom for so many years.   “That’s why I’m in education,” he says. “I say, ‘I love all of ya.’ And what I mean by ‘all of ya’ is I care about ya.” “I think that the care and the time the teachers put in was most definitely one of the reasons that I excelled here,” DeHamer says. “Because if they didn’t care, then why should I care?”   DeHamer says the whole student approach helped her reach her goals. She’s now starting her third quarter at Spokane Community College for an associate’s degree and plans to transfer to a four-year university. Want to learn more about Spokane's strategy? Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear Lyndia Wilson, division director at Spokane Regional Health District. She says that "the school system is the perfect setting to have impact and interventions." Mr. Chalich, Teacher at Central Valley High School (Angela Nguyen / The Takeaway ) Melissa Scott, Scott Krentel, Aaron Dahlgren from McDonald Elementary School (Angela Nguyen / The Takeaway )  

Earlier this week, The Takeaway launched a new series based off the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) County Health Rankings Report, entitled "ZIP Code Decoded: How Where You Live Matters To Your Health." All week we've explored the how communities deal with health, county by county. But boundaries of some communities go beyond counties. Take for example the semi-autonomous Navajo Nation, occupying portions of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, a territory that stretches over 27,000 square miles and is home to approximately 226,000 people.  The counties that make up the Navajo Nation are heavily rural with low population density. Oral health issues are well documented among the Navajo, and while the number of dentists appears sufficient for the population, they don't tell the whole story. Laurel Morales, a reporter from member station KJZZ, takes us to the Navajo Nation and on board a mobile dental clinic staffed by dentist Darrin Blackman, who's trying to make a dent in the problem.  Dentist Darrin Blackman works with dental assistants Cloetta Keams, Marlene Keams and Shirlene Bahe on the RV turned dental clinic. (Laurel Morales) Craig Peshtony, 14, says he learned how to brush his teeth from television commercials. (Laurel Morales)  

Earlier this week, The Takeaway launched a new series based off the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) County Health Rankings Report, entitled "ZIP Code Decoded: How Where You Live Matters To Your Health." When we started this project, we wanted to focus on some of the anomalies and larger health trends for certain counties. The information provided by RWJF gave us the hard numbers. From there, WNYC's Data News team did a "data mash-up" with the community types created by the American Communities Project. It's not surprising to find out that communities with less education, lower income, higher rates of unemployment, and poverty rank poorly in overall health. But what's key to this conversation and to improving health is knowing how to reach and work within those communities.   Across the board, counties considered to be "Evangelical Hubs" by the American Communities Project rank poorly in many of RWJF's main health factors, including premature death, physical inactivity, obesity, and diabetes. The silver lining here is that these communities are tight knit, providing a place—the church—where people congregate frequently. Health and church officials are using this to their advantage when designing outreach programs.  Today, Chad Lampe, the news director at WKMS in Kentucky, takes us to Henry County, Tennessee where we meet Pastor Bob Palmer. Pastor Palmer is concerned that poor health statistics will be a deterrent for someone looking to join a church. And we'll learn about a new initiative from the Tennessee-run Governor's Foundation for Health and Wellness, which specifically targets churches.  

In Georgia, Dougherty County is home to around 93,000 people. And according to the American Communities Project (ACP), Dougherty falls under the "African American South" community type (see below map). Defined as a belt that runs from Virginia down through Texas, these counties are home to large African American populations—Hispanic residents make up about just 5 percent of the population while black residents make up about 40 percent. With a median household income of $35,561, the African American South is the least wealthy of the 15 county types in the ACP. Of Georgia's 159 counties, Dougherty County ranks 115th for overall health outcomes, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's County Health Rankings. Rates of infant mortality are particularly alarming in this community.  Infant mortality is also a serious problem for African American women—with a rate that is two and a half times higher for black mothers than for white and Hispanic women. It’s even worse in the rural South, where poverty is high and just getting to a doctor can be a challenge for some women. Dougherty County has an infant mortality rate of 10.8 per 1,000 live births—that’s nearly twice as high as the average in the United States. Bradley George of Georgia Public Broadcasting examines Centering Pregnancy, a program designed to reduce rates of infant mortality through group prenatal care. 

In March 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Commonly referred to as Obamacare, this law lays out numerous goals. But one of its primary objectives is to extend affordable healthcare coverage to millions of uninsured people around the United States. Since Obamacare went into effect, more than 11 million people have signed up for health insurance, but there are still a number of of counties with high rates of uninsured individuals. This disproportionately impacts communities of color, as illustrated by the high rates of uninsured Hispanics. Counties like Atascosa, Medina, Gonzalez, and Uvalde in Texas are among the highest. These counties are just a few of the 161 "Hispanic Centers" in the United States. Hispanic Centers as defined by The American Communities Project "are not necessarily majority Hispanic, but they are places where self-identified Hispanics make up a large part of the population, 56 percent on average."  Texas is home to nearly half of all the "Hispanic Centers" in the U.S. And according to The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's County Health Rankings, many of these counties rank among the highest for people without insurance. Paul Flahive of Texas Public Radio takes us inside a clinic seeking to reverse this trend.

Over 60% of Utah's residents are members of the Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a faith that forbids the use of drugs including alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea. Yet, Utah has one of the highest rates of prescription drug addiction in the country, with an average of 21 state residents dying from pain medication abuse each month. It's a figure that rivals, and at times overtakes, motor vehicle crash deaths.  The issue has had a shattering effect on the Latter-day Saints community as Mindy Vincent, a therapist at a drug recovery center in Salt Lake City, can attest. Her sister, Maline, died August of last year from prescription pain medication overuse. Reporter Andrea Smardon from KUER Radio in Salt Lake City followed the Vincent family as they continue to grieve and struggle with addiction in their family.  Glen Hanson, Director of the Utah Addiction Center, joins us on the program to discuss how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is addressing the issue. He says that the church has been trying to raise more awareness on prescription pain medication abuse for years now. Cathy Hairup, Mindy and Maline's stepmother, spoke with their bishop as well, and he's promised to organize an event on opiate addiction later this year.  Mindy Vincent at the Utah State Capitol on March 6th, 2015, speaking at a Rally for Recovery on opiate addiction. (Andrea Smardon/The Takeaway)  

We've all been to the doctor's office. And though a person's family medical history may be important, has your doctor ever asked for your ZIP code? Probably not, but maybe they should. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the county you live in can have a tremendous impact on your overall health. The organization's 2015 County Health Rankings report is out today, and Michelle Larkin, the Interim Vice President of Program Portfolios at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, explains the findings. How does your county stack up? Find out here.