Did you know?

Written in the Morton Memorial Memo by Pastor Von Unruh ...

"I recently clicked on the following internet link and discovered that Grundy County is basically the unhealthiest county in Tennessee. Actually, it’s ranked 94 out of 95 counties (http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/tennessee). I wasn’t surprised by what I read, but I believe it is important that we be aware of the situation that exists in the county in which many of us live. In case you’re curious, Marion County is ranked 83. Franklin County is ranked 11. Most of us at Morton Memorial do not suffer from the health factors listed in the study, which means that (apart from us) the county is even more unhealthy.

What factors detail the lack of good health in Grundy County? One out of every five persons in the county is illiterate. Two out of every five children lives in poverty. Barely one out of every four persons in the county ever attended (never mind graduated from) a college. Almost half of all children live in a single parent household. Thirty percent of adults are obese. Family income is so low that two out of every three children receive free lunches at school. Liquor stores are basically three times more common in Grundy County than elsewhere in Tennessee. And so it goes. I don’t even want to think what the statistical figures would be if Mountain T.O.P. had not been present in the county for the last thirty-five years."