Placer, El Dorado among healthiest counties for kids in U.S.
By Darrell Smith, Sacramento Bee
Local health officers have a common recipe for keeping their counties’ children healthy: Make sure children and their parents have ready access to doctors. Provide prenatal care for young mothers. Educate families on healthy habits. Keep kids active and in school.
“One of the drivers of economic health is the physical and mental health of the community,” said Robert Oldham, Placer County health officer. “Having an approach that looks at many different factors – getting more into the schools, environments that support physical activity, education – there’s not one intervention that has an impact.”
It’s a blueprint that placed Placer, Yolo and El Dorado counties among America’s 50 Healthiest Counties for Kids 2014-15, according to recently released rankings published in U.S. News and World Report. Placer County ranked 17th among the nation’s top 50 counties; Yolo County placed 30th; El Dorado County was No. 43. All three – Placer (2); Yolo (5); and El Dorado (7) – finished in the top 10 among California’s 58 counties.