Monroe County ranks as the third healthiest county in Illinois, according to a recent study.

The County Health Rankings are produced by the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Foundation, comparing all 102 counties in the state on a total of 60 factors that influence health.

These factors include education, housing, violent crime, employment, diet and exercise, adult obesity, smoking, children in poverty, teenage birth rates, alcohol use, sexually transmitted diseases and air pollution.

In contrast, neighboring St. Clair County ranked 93rd on the list. Randolph County, our neighbor to the south, ranked 65th on this year’s list.

Last year, Monroe County ranked 18th on the list.

“It’s a good perk, I guess you can say,” Monroe County Health Department Administrator John Wagner said. “But I don’t want people reading too much into it.”

The study takes in so many factors, Wagner said, that demographics and general location have a lot to do with just how well a county is ranked from year to year.
Wagner said the counties that rank low on the list do not reflect the performance of their health departments.

The study is an indication, however, that programs offered at the Monroe County Health Department seem to be working well.

The department meets daily public health needs and maintains readiness to intervene in epidemics and provide support for large-scale disaster responses. Services include restaurant inspection, septic and water system inspection, oversight of the Women, Infants and Children program, family case management, the “Tobacco Free” program, communicable disease tracking, vector control (mosquito and other insect nuisance abatement), flu clinics for schools and immunizations.

The lack of a hospital usually knocks Monroe County down a few rankings, Wagner said, but some of the recent local healthcare additions, including the dialysis center and other offices, seem to have affected the rankings positively.

“It shows that the development of this county is going in a healthy direction,” Wagner said. “The high ranking is definitely a plus. Monroe County should be happy.”

Individuals with questions about services and programs are encouraged to visit the health department’s website at www.monroecountyhealth.org, or call the department at 939-3871.

Walk-ins are seen from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the Monroe County Annex, located at 901 Illinois Avenue in Waterloo.

To view the study, visit online at www.countyhealthrankings.org.