By Joe Benedict

MVM NEWS NETWORK

DONNELLSON A group of health care professionals, law enforcement officials, doctors and general public gathered in Donnellson on Thursday to review the direction healthcare is going in Lee County and to decide what the most pressing issues in that field are for the county.

Vince Vandehaar of VVV Marketing and Development, Inc. of the Kansas City area was the consultant leading the town hall meeting.

He showed the group a number of statistics that indicate Lee County is not sitting well compared to other Iowa counties in various health-related areas.

The county ranked 99 out of 99 counties for social and economic factors. Lee County is 85th in quality of life or morbidity rate and 89th in mortality rate.

For health behaviors like tobacco use, diet and exercise, alcohol use and sexual behavior, the county ranks 93rd.

Vandehaar asked if some of the numbers could be true, such a 42 percent of the children in the county in single parent homes.

Those present believe that is plausible. Vandehaar compared that to an average of several other rural counties that are at 26.6 percent.

He also asked if the unemployment number was accurate at 9.3 percent. The rate has dropped a few points since his data was put together, but Lee County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

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Better mental health care tops county focus list