ASHLAND — The 2025 Ashland County Community Health Needs Assessment identified four prioritized health needs affecting Ashland County residents.
Those needs impacting health are:
- Smoking, vaping and substance misuse.
- Chronic disease, including cancer and heart disease.
- Maternal and child health.
- Alzheimer’s Disease.
The assessment was a collaborative effort coordinated by the Ashland County Health Department, University Hospitals Samaritan Medical Center and other partners. The report was released on Oct. 14.
Its purpose is to inform organizations and community stakeholders about the health needs and priorities of Ashland County residents.
“The Ashland County Health Department will address the priority needs in the 2026-2028 Community Health Improvement Plan and University Hospitals Samaritan Medical Center will address the priority needs in its 2026-2028 Implementation Strategy,” according to the report.
Ashland County Health Department and University Hospitals contracted with Illuminology, a central Ohio-based research firm, which helped create and implement the assessment of needs.
The process included designing and conducting stakeholder interviews and focus groups, collecting national and state-level health data and identifying priority needs based on equity, size, seriousness and other factors.
Many of the county-level findings are compared to national goals and statistics laid out in Healthy People 2030, a collaboration from federal agencies which lists objectives that help measure public health improvements and serves as a data source for health metrics in the U.S.
The four prioritized health needs
Smoking, vaping and substance misuse
The health professionals prioritized smoking, vaping and substance misuse “because they have extensive, widespread effects on health and well-being, both for those using the substances and for the other people in their lives,” the report notes.
The assessment found 20.4% of Ashland County residents are cigarette smokers, which does not meet the Healthy People 2030 target of 6.1%, and 16.7% of residents reported binge drinking in the past 30 days.
Community stakeholders also worried about vaping among youth and the proliferation of vape shops in the county.
Chronic disease, including cancer and heart disease
In Ashland County, coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death, with a rate of 184.3 per 100,000 population, and cancer is the second most common cause of death, with a rate of 172.8, according to the report.
The overall cancer incidence rate in Ashland County is 498.3 per 100,000 population, which is higher than Ohio’s rate of 462.9.
Colorectal cancer and breast cancer rates are particularly elevated, compared to state incidence rates, according to the report, but prostate cancer is the most common.
Factors that increase the risk of heart disease include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity and general lifestyle choices, according to the Center for Disease Control.
The report found that 38% of Ashland County residents were diagnosed with high blood pressure, 36% were diagnosed with high cholesterol and 28.5% of adults aged 20 and older are obese.
Maternal and child health
Ashland County doesn’t meet the Healthy People 2030 targets for several maternal and child health factors, including mothers who did not smoke during pregnancy — 93.6% for Ashland County, compared to the target of 95.7% — and infant mortality rate: 7 for Ashland County, compared to the target of 5.
The assessment also found 52% of mothers in Ashland County receive early prenatal care, which is less than in Ohio overall’s 69%. The child mortality rate in Ashland County is higher than Ohio overall as well.
In Ashland County, 23% of children are living in poverty, which is higher than Ohio’s 18%.
Alzheimer’s Disease
The death rate due to Alzheimer’s disease is higher in Ashland at 65.7 than it is in Ohio at 31.8. Alzheimer’s is listed as the sixth most common cause of death in the U.S., according to the CDC.
In Ashland County Alzheimer’s Disease is the third most common cause of death, according to the report.
At the monthly board of health meeting on Nov. 18, Health Commissioner Vickie Taylor said she would be looking into the Alzheimer’s death rate more.
She shared concerns about it being improperly listed as the cause of death, saying that often when a person with Alzheimer’s dies, it is because of health complications caused by Alzheimer’s disease, making it the underlying cause, not the direct cause of death.
Those complications are often pneumonia, falls or malnutrition.
Other important findings
The report highlighted several health statistics for Ashland County and their comparisons to the state and national levels. Some of those are:
- Community profile
- Ashland County has a total population of 52,296, and 54.9% of the population is aged 20-64
- The life expectancy is 76, which greater than Ohio’s at 75.6
- Social determinants of health
- Nearly 28% of households are ALICE, which stands for asset limited, income constrained, employed.
- Healthcare access is hampered by provider shortages, geographic barriers, and systemic issues. Long waits for services like youth counseling and difficulties accessing specialists, often requiring travel to other counties, are noted by residents.
- At 3.7%, the unemployment rate is slightly lower than Ohio’s overall rate of 4.8%
- 42.7% of renters are spending 30% or more of their income on rent
- Nearly 30% of students are eligible for free lunch in Ashland County, which is higher than the 24% who are eligible in the state overall.
- Ashland ranks 33rd out of 88 Ohio counties in physical environment health, placing it in the top half of healthiest environments, according to the report. Neighborhood and physical environment refers to what extent individuals feel safe in their community and how the environment influences their quality of life.
Stakeholders and other involved in the listening sessions also considered listing access to mental health resources and medications, child care, low income housing, jobs availability and food insecurity as priority health needs.
The health deparment creates a community health assessment every three years and a community improvement plan every two years. Find the reports at the Ashland County Health Department’s website.