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“Some of the nice things that did make us so high on those health rankings are things that our municipalities <br />[…] have embraced for a long time — bikeability and walkability and making sure there’s crosswalks and bike <br />lanes and trails accessible to everyone,” she noted. “The outliers of Orange County can’t access the health <br />services, they can’t access those bike lanes, et cetera.” <br />According to Shelp, the stellar performance of the county in the report may be the result of a holistic approach <br />employed by local leaders to account for full spectrum wellness. <br />“When we’re looking at things like transportation and affordable housing, those all impact health and so much <br />more,” she claimed. “We really do need to be looking across the spectrum of how we can create access to <br />health.” <br />In addition to income disparity, Shelp identified substance abuse and mental health as other concerns that the <br />Orange County Health Department is seeking to address. <br />“We just recently completed a gap analysis to see where service issues were and accessibility issues around <br />mental health services,” she reported. “We’re going to be doing a suicide prevention campaign starting in the <br />fall, and then have added integrated behavioral health specialists to work hand-in-hand with our medical <br />clinical staff.” <br />Superior rankings notwithstanding, Shelp stressed that the Orange County Health Department would continue <br />to pursue improvements in areas where change can be affected. <br />“We’ve got a lot of things to work on here in Orange County, and it’s not number one and number two for <br />everybody,” she offered. “Continuing to address the health disparities and inequities here and everywhere, I <br />think, is the critical piece of this.” <br />The report was compiled by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the Robert Wood Johnson <br />Foundation, whose sole philanthropic focus is health.