How healthy is Cleveland? New survey shows the good, bad and the sad

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) -Every ten years, the Cleveland Department of Public Health (CDPH) polls Cleveland residents to ask the question, how healthy are the people who live here.

This time around almost 1,500 residents responded to all kinds of questions from weight, access to doctors, cancer screenings, drug and alcohol use and depression.

“I think this is just incredibly important in the city of Cleveland. You can’t improve what you’re not measuring,” said Dr. David Margolius, the director of CDPH.

The first batch of data was released today with some positives and some negatives.

On the positive side Clevelanders are getting screened for cancer at higher rates when compared to the national average of two years ago.

In the past two years, 81.8% of Clevelanders surveyed said they have had a breast cancer screening, compared to 76.3% nationally.

In Cleveland, 51.3% said they have been screened for prostate cancer in the past two years, while the national average is 41.1%

On the negative side of things, 30.2% of Clevelanders said they have had a food insecurity in the past year, while nationally that number is 12.5%.

When is comes to racial and ethnic discrimination, 17.5% of Clevelanders said they have been treated worse in general in the past year, compared to 7.5% of those on the national survey from two years ago.

When is comes to the sad, 36.6% of Clevelanders said they have been diagnosed with depression while that number nationally is 19.8%.

On the question of life satisfaction 81% of Cleveland answered generally or very satisfied with life, but nationally that number is 94.5%.

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