The Columbus Dispatch
Jeff Klingler, Joe Mazzola and Dr. Mysheika Roberts – Guest Columnists
July 11, 2025

During the past 18 months, our hospital systems and local health departments have partnered to better understand the priority health needs of Franklin County residents. Collaborating with 30 community organizations, we analyzed hundreds of health indicators and listened to our residents’ health concerns through a series of focus groups.

What did we find? The health of Franklin County residents is impacted far beyond the care they receive from providers, clinics and hospitals. In fact, non-medical factors, such as economic stability, education, transportation and neighborhood safety, are all critical to good health.

The Central Ohio Hospital Council, Columbus Public Health, and Franklin County Public Health are pleased to share “HealthMap 2025,” which highlights health priorities identified by community members who live, work and play in the neighborhoods we serve.

Building on what we learned since our last report in 2022, “HealthMap 2025” provides hospitals, health departments and other community organizations an important tool to identify and address the unmet health needs of Franklin County residents. When we understand the prevalence of acute and chronic health conditions, access to care barriers, and other health issues, our community can better allocate resources where they can have the greatest impact.

Through this collaborative work, we learned:

Poor housing quality or inadequate housing conditions contribute to negative health outcomes, including chronic disease and injury. Lead, mold or asbestos, poor air quality and overcrowding can lead to irreversible health effects. As a community, we must increase housing security and address housing costs in order to improve the health of all residents.
Poor mental health remains a key issue. More than a quarter of Franklin County residents report feeling lonely. Loneliness is higher among recently pregnant women, individuals with lower household incomes, and individuals with disabilities.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) significantly contribute to poor health outcomes. ACEs are traumatic events like violence, abuse or neglect during childhood that have long term effects on mental and physical health. In Franklin County, the highest prevalence of those with four or more ACEs is among Black individuals, those younger than age 65, and individuals with a disability.
Maternal and infant health remain priority health issues. The health of a mother — before, during and after pregnancy — has a direct impact on the health of a child. Indicators show an increased focus on maternal health, including early pre-pregnancy care, could reduce the infant mortality rate.
Injury and violence directly affect the health and well-being of residents. Americans ages 1 to 44 die from injuries and violence like motor vehicle crashes, suicide, overdoses or homicides more than any other cause. In Franklin County, accidents are the leading cause of death for adults ages 18 to 59. Intentional self-harm and assaults were the fourth and fifth leading causes of death for this age group.

Data collected and residents’ experiences also show that health disparities from racial and ethnic discrimination cause gaps in health outcomes. These gaps reinforce that racism continues to be a public health crisis that needs continued community focus.

What we do now as a community to improve the health and wellbeing of all central Ohio residents is even more important than what we learned. Our hospitals and health departments are working to better align health improvement efforts to address our community’s most pressing challenges in areas like infant mortality, drug overdoses and infectious disease outbreaks.

We invite other community organizations, leaders, and corporate partners that serve, care for, employ and support our residents to join us in this critical work. Together, we can make great strides in improving the health and wellbeing of all central Ohio residents.

The Franklin County “HealthMap 2025” can be found at centralohiohospitals.org/franklin-county-healthmap.

Jeff Klingler is president and CEO of Central Ohio Hospital Council.

Joe Mazzola is health commissioner at Franklin County Public Health.

Dr. Mysheika Roberts is health commissioner at Columbus Public Health.