With high rates of obesity, smoking and vaping, coupled with some of the highest mortality rates from chronic illness like cancer and heart disease, Louisiana has notoriously ranked near the bottom of most of the nation’s health outcome measures for decades.
Concerned that an already precarious population may have skipped check-ups and recommended screenings, thereby allowing illnesses to go undiagnosed and untreated in the last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, St. Tammany Health System and Ochsner Health partnered last fall with more than 50 of the Northshore’s leaders in the healthcare, community, civic and government sectors to form an advisory body focused on improving the overall health of residents in St. Tammany, our state’s healthiest parish, and neighboring Washington, the state’s least healthy parish, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.
St. Tammany and Washington have higher rates of cancer incidence than the rest of the state, according to the Louisiana Tumor Registry. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in both parishes, accounting for more than breast, prostate and colorectal cancer deaths combined. Washington Parish has the highest prostate cancer mortality in the state, particularly among its African American male population.