“Those are disturbing numbers,” said Toby Freeman, chairman of the Klamath County Healthcare Access Committee, which is working to recruit and retain primary care providers.

   Improving the health of Klamath County residents, he said, will take greater personal responsibility and greater access to primary care. But those changes could take time.        “It isn’t a huge surpr ise,” F reema n sa id about the rankings. “I don’t know that you’d expect to see these numbers change a whole lot in a year.”

   The study, which was published for the first time last year on countyhea lth ra n k ings.org, showed that K lamath County moved up the rankings this year in some health factor categories, like healthy behaviors and social and economic factors.  

   “ I t h i n k it ’s g reat that we did see a slight improvement,” said Melissa Klegseth, health promotion and disease prevention coordinator with Klamath County Public Health. “It’s just a slow process.”

   In light of the county’s poor health status in those rankings, Sky Lakes’ board of directors told hospital staff to give greater focus to improving the overall health of the community rather than just treating illness, he said.

   Hottman said he did not expect to see Klamath County make a huge jump in the rankings in the year since they were last published.

    jaschbrenner@heraldandnews  . com   About the study  

   The study ranked nearly all counties from 50 states in health outcomes, like how many people are living with an illness   and how many people die prematurely, and health factors, like behavior, environment and access to care.