Morris County is Again Ranked “Healthiest” in New Jersey

Revealed on April 28, 2022

No. 1 Score Primarily based on Surroundings, Jobs, Healthcare, Training & Extra

Morris County has been ranked once more because the No. 1 healthiest county in New Jersey in an annual, nationwide examine launched this week by the College of Wisconsin Inhabitants Well being Institute and the Robert Wooden Johnson Basis.

“That is great and welcome information, and I believe we earned it. The report says Morris County ranked very properly on many components, comparable to an extended life-expectancy, excessive schooling ranges and alternatives for social associations, whereas having among the lowest charges in New Jersey of unemployment, violent crime and youngster poverty,” stated Tayfun Selen, Director of the Morris County Board of County Commissioners.

hThe “2022 County Well being Rankings,” a nationwide examine of counties in all 50 states, yearly locations Morris County on the prime of its checklist. Main group components examined within the examine are crime, schooling, atmosphere, monetary success, illness and mortality charges, life-style habits and the provision of dietary meals, medical care and alternatives to train.

“The County Well being Rankings mannequin illustrates a broad imaginative and prescient for well being. The mannequin exhibits that insurance policies and packages on the native, state, and federal ranges play an essential function in shaping well being components that in flip, affect a group’s well being outcomes. By implementing methods that focus on the precise well being challenges of a group, there is a chance to affect how lengthy and the way properly individuals reside,” the report notes.

See the Total New Jersey Rankings Map

Learn the Morris County Snapshot

The Commissioners celebrated the report, including that the No. 1 rating is a product of many years of labor by dedicated public servants and residents all through the county.

“We’re naturally appreciative and pleased with this steady prime rating because the healthiest county in New Jersey. Most individuals who reside right here already know we’re one the most effective locations anyplace to work, increase a household and reside, and that didn’t occur by likelihood,” stated Commissioner Deputy Director John Krickus. “Morris County can level to generations of residents who’ve labored and pursued alternatives for themselves and their youngsters by growing the standard of schooling, creating a robust financial system and employment alternatives, main New Jersey in open house preservation and with the primary county park system.”

The Board of County Commissioners cited a couple of current pursuits undertaken to keep up the general public well being, together with:

• Continued safety of open house, 17,682 acres thus far, and enhancement of the most important county park system in New Jersey, with over 20,394 acres of parkland, 38 leisure services and greater than 253 miles of trails. On the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, residents took refuge there, with park and trails visitation growing fourfold.
• Long run investments in schooling, particularly the County Faculty of Morris and the Morris County Vocational Faculty District to reinforce expertise growth, repeatedly enhance the profession alternatives and incomes of the native labor power, and to draw enterprise investments.
• The MCVSD will probably be expanded by 30 p.c after building begins this 12 months on the district’s new Profession Coaching Middle on the faculty campus, which is designed to offer college students and adults the technical expertise demanded by the state’s main business clusters.
• Morris County is persistently ranked as having the bottom or second lowest unemployment fee due to its business-friendly relationship with main employers and the academic and employment alternatives created right here.
• Morris County’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was heralded as a mannequin in New Jersey by state officers and monetary score homes alike 
  • emergency administration leaders had been acknowledged for his or her strategic distribution of private safety tools, in addition to their profitable arrange and operation of a regional vaccination heart and native testing websites
  • the county launched a number of packages to help the county’s most susceptible populations with entry to meals, shelter, healthcare, vaccines and testing
  • the commissioners shaped a job power to repeatedly look at the financial and monetary influence of the pandemic, leading to score homes repeatedly sustaining Morris County’s AAA score.

“We’re proud to be ranked primary within the state. When human providers, public well being and healthcare collaborate, there’s better alternative to establish and deal with social determinants of well being on the native stage, and promote well being fairness” stated Laura O’Reilly Stanzilis RN, Government Director of the North Jersey Well being Collaborative, who additionally sits on the Morris County Human Providers Advisory Council and works with space nonprofits.

The nationwide report concluded that such components as employment alternatives and ensuing earnings straight impacts the kind of well being components that led to Morris County’s prime rating. It additionally said that native, state and federal insurance policies and packages can have a serious influence on the general well being of a group.

“There’s a variety of insurance policies, packages, techniques, and environmental adjustments that may make a distinction regionally. Some interventions goal particular person behaviors, comparable to influencing dietary selections, train ranges, or alcohol consumption. Different methods attempt to sort out techniques and constructions, comparable to enhancing alternatives for schooling, stimulating financial growth, and growing neighborhood security,” the report states.

“Well being components signify issues that, if modified, can enhance size and high quality of life. They’re predictors of how wholesome our communities may be sooner or later. The 4 well being issue areas within the mannequin embrace Well being Behaviors, Medical Care, Social & Financial Elements, and Bodily Surroundings. Well being outcomes signify how wholesome a county is correct now. They mirror the bodily and psychological well-being of residents by way of measures representing the size and high quality of life sometimes skilled in the neighborhood,” the report states.