Talk of The Villages Florida - We never were "America's Healthiest Hometown"

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- - We never were "America's Healthiest Hometown" (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/we-never-were-americas-healthiest-hometown-149361/)

From front page of the Daily Sun 3/26/15:

Marion Cty Pop: 339,167 including 10,205 Villagers
Sumter Cty Pop: 114,350 including 84,292 Villagers
Lake Cty Pop: 315,600 including 11,142 Villagers

.

I'm pretty sure we have the lowest SIDS rate in the US.

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Originally Posted by Polar Bear (Post 1037213)

:rolleyes:

What Bogie said.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bogie Shooter (Post 1037201)

:a20::a20:

What Polar Bear said Bogie said.:icon_bored:

Quote:

Originally Posted by CFrance (Post 1037307)

What Polar Bear said Bogie said.:icon_bored:

I'm all in!

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckinca (Post 1037295)

From front page of the Daily Sun 3/26/15:
Sumter Cty Pop: 114,350 including 84,292 Villagers

.

74%....Sumter County is The Villages.

What Bogie, Polar and Gracie said.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuccillo (Post 1037187)

Sumter County has the highest average age of any county in the country, I believe. Since health generally diminishes with age, it is probably quite an accomplishment that Sumter is where it is.

I just learned something about the rankings. There are two parts: 1) health factors - rank 7th. & 2) health outcomes - rank 27th.

I was just told that they didn't report the health outcomes because the rest of the county is responsible for the poor showing of 27th.

But you suggested that age is a big factor. If most of the other communities in Sumter are younger, why would they be pulling us down? Wouldn't they be pulling us up?

Quote:

Originally Posted by manaboutown (Post 1037195)

According to this site Marion County ranks #38, Sumter #7 and Lake #16 within the state of Florida. Health Rankings | County Health Rankings & Roadmaps

Sumter is #7 for health factors but 27th for health outcomes. Notice that there are two maps on your link, one on the right and one on the left. One is for health outcomes and one is for health factors.

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Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr (Post 1037247)

That's my question. The Villages and Sumter County are two different things. I don't know if statistics are developed for The Villages or not, but the numbers for Sumter County are not the numbers for The Villages.

I don't know how much of Sumter County residents live in The Villages, but there are other communities in Sumter County and residents that live in other parts of unincorporated parts of Sumter County. It may very well be that it is because of The Villages, that Sumter County Rates as high as it does.

Sumter population: 114,350 including 84,292 Villagers.

For "health factors" Sumter ranks #7th. For "health outcomes" Sumter ranks #27th. According to the article, it seems The Villages community is taking credit for having moved up on the "health factors" ranking. But we are divorcing ourselves from the rest of the county when it comes to health outcomes. Even though the other communities only represent a small portion of the population, and are younger on average.

If that's not cherry picking, I don't know what is.

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Originally Posted by Barefoot (Post 1037282)

Are you suggesting there is some kind of giant conspiracy afoot by The Villages to pretend Villagers are healthier than they are?

I wouldn't use the phrase "giant conspiracy".

How would you explain what happened? 1) First The Villages claims to be America's Healthiest Hometown. 2) Then we only come in 7th in Florida 3) And for "health outcomes" we only rank #27th.

Is it ignorance? Incompetence? PR tactics to sell more homes?

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Originally Posted by ziggie (Post 1037338)

Village pl....it is hard to stay infront of the posse, but I take my hat off to you :beer3:

Thanks, Ziggie. You know you're gonna give me a heart attack with a compliment like that. :wave:

It's a freaking marketing slogan!!!! Do you believe every advertisement you read? if so, I feel sorry for you--even my grandson knew at age seven that you shouldn't believe marketing hype.

I never believed The Villages was truly America's anything. To me, personally, however, it's simply a great place to retire. Oh, and I didn't want to come here in the first place--this was my husband's dream. I could care less about the marketing, the developer, or anything else people complain about (except the potential pricing of events at The Sharon). I won't leave now. It's my home.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Villages PL (Post 1037323)

But you suggested that age is a big factor. If most of the other communities in Sumter are younger, why would they be pulling us down? Wouldn't they be pulling us up?

Maybe all those youngsters eat at Arby's.

:pepper2::pepper2::pepper2:

I agree with Ziggie and I don't understand the rather unpleasant comments. If you are not interested, why comment at all? I thought it was interesting, however.

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Originally Posted by Villages PL (Post 1037159)

It was all just a big PR fabrication. Remember the USF Health survey that was supposed to be "proof" that we were "America's Healthiest Hometown"? Well, no, it didn't prove any such thing, so forget about it.

All the while they were calling the Villages, "America's Healthiest Hometown", Sumter was only the 20th healthiest county in the state as of 2010 and slowly moving up because we were importing healthier residents from other states. In other words, the Villages was growing fast and the new residents were healthier than the general population that existed (overall) in the county.

You can read about it on the front page of today's Daily Sun (March 30, 2015) Sumter county is now ranked 7th for overall health factors. Do they list the counties that beat us? No! Do they congratulate the winner? No! Was there any mention of how we might learn from the counties that did better than Sumter? No!

Instead, The Villages is busy taking credit for Sumter county having moved up to seventh place, and it's all positive spin control.

If we are only 7th in Florida, where are we nationally?

I'll see if I can find out more about how the rankings were achieved? The article stated: "2015 national County Health Rankings analysis published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute."

http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/blog/see-key-findings-our-2015-rankings (link not working)

America's Healthiest Hometown is an advertising statement. And an advertising statement is meant to be catchy and creative rather than literal and defining. It is designed to sell something.

Just do it. A little dab'l do ya. See the USA in your Chevrolet. Where's the beef?

77 Catchy and Creative Slogans