DELAWARE, Oh. – The Delaware Public Health District is pleased to announce that Delaware County is the healthiest county in Ohio for the eighth year straight.  

The 2022 County Health Rankings issued today places Delaware County as first in Ohio for both health outcomes and health factors. Health outcomes focus on how healthy people are presently and health factors are based on how healthy people will be in the future. The rankings, presented by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, are available online at countyhealthrankings.org. 

“After a busy and challenging two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re extremely proud to be able to announce again this exciting achievement,” said Health Commissioner Shelia Hiddleson. “This ranking, yet again, reflects the priority our residents have placed on improving the factors that affect their health.” 

Hiddleson added that this ranking also solidifies how important it is to sustain the services and programs that are currently helping residents stay healthy. The Health District along with several community partners that make up The Partnership for a Healthy Delaware County are set to work together again to strategize and implement a Community Health Improvement Plan resulting from new data collected through the latest Community Health Assessment. 

“We know that there are still pockets of need in our community that may not be doing as well as others,” Hiddleson said. “Our work with the Community Health Assessment and the Community Health Improvement Plan evaluates those needs in an effort to strengthen, support and mobilize solutions to improve our health barriers.” 

Hiddleson said that it was important to note that while the Health District is seen as the leader in county health issues, these rankings are not a grading system for health departments, but rather a snapshot of the population’s overall health.  

Last Updated on April 27, 2022