Health Comes First

ISO - November 2009 e-Newsletter

Recently, the list of healthiest and unhealthiest states in the US was released. Congratulations go out to the top ten healthiest states:

Vermont, Utah, Massachusetts, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Connecticut, Colorado, Maine and Rhode Island. ¹

Here are some other interesting facts about the top ten states:

The annual ranking bases its findings on 22 health factors like fitness levels, smoking rates, the number of people with health insurance and environmental pollution. Even education plays a factor in how healthy people live their lives. In Vermont, 82.3% of incoming 9th grade students graduate in four years with a regular degree, “an indication of the individual’s ability to learn about, create and maintain a healthy lifestyle and to understand and access health care when required”.²

• The first open heart surgery and the first bone marrow transplant in the United States were done at the University of Minnesota.³
• Utah has 11,000 miles of fishing streams and 147,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs and Utah’s mountain peaks, on average, are the tallest in the country. The average elevation of the tallest peaks in each of Utah's counties is 11,222 ft.-higher than the same average in any other state⁴. That’s a lot of swimming, climbing, biking and hiking to be done!
• In 1891, the first basketball game was played in Springfield, Massachusetts.
• Colorado has 222 state wildlife areas and Denver has the largest city park system in the nation with 205 parks in city limits and 20,000 acres of parks in the nearby mountains.

You can read the full report here and discover some interesting facts using their interactive tools for participating in a healthier lifestyle! You can also find more interesting facts about your state by visiting www.50states.com!

1. http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/16/unhealthy-healthy-states-lifestyle-health-states-top_chart.html
2. http://www.americashealthrankings.org/Measure/2009/List%20All/High%20School%20Graduation.aspx
3. http://www.50states.com/facts/minn.htm
4. http://www.50states.com/facts/utah.htm
5. http://www.50states.com/facts/colorado.htm