Originally Posted by Villages PL (Post 1037323)

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?

Originally Posted by maryanna630 (Post 1037367)

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.

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)

Originally Posted by maryanna630 (Post 1037367)

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.

Originally Posted by mickey100 (Post 1037418)

Apparently it was a marketing slogan that was untrue. We've learned to take a lot of things that we hear around here with a grain of salt.

Originally Posted by CFrance (Post 1037420)

Oh, but we are interested. Many of us are interested in debating certain statements when they are presented as facts, or skewed to appear to be facts, or being told what we should or shouldn't eat/do/think, and why.

When I was relatively new to the forum, I learned a lot about posters by reading their former posts. You can left-click on their name above a post and pull down a menu that includes "Find all posts by" that person. You can decide if a poster has an agenda, and whether or not you feel that a poster's presentations are reliable or are just being used to justify or further his or her agenda, and whether or not they're jumping on anything they find online to address their favorite viewpoint or even just stir the pot to start a debate.

So please don't accuse us of being disinterested. We have heard a lot from each other down through the years, and sometimes we just feel the need to present another side. Or we're tired of the same-ole same-ole and wish to voice our our opinion about that. That's everyone's right on this forum.

Originally Posted by CFrance (Post 1037420)

Oh, but we are interested. Many of us are interested in debating certain statements when they are presented as facts, or skewed to appear to be facts, or being told what we should or shouldn't eat/do/think, and why.

When I was relatively new to the forum, I learned a lot about posters by reading their former posts. You can left-click on their name above a post and pull down a menu that includes "Find all posts by" that person. You can decide if a poster has an agenda, and whether or not you feel that a poster's presentations are reliable or are just being used to justify or further his or her agenda, and whether or not they're jumping on anything they find online to address their favorite viewpoint or even just stir the pot to start a debate.

So please don't accuse us of being disinterested. We have heard a lot from each other down through the years, and sometimes we just feel the need to present another side. Or we're tired of the same-ole same-ole and wish to voice our our opinion about that. That's everyone's right on this forum.