Book on injuries shows counties in region as places of pain

When the four-wheeler 12-year-old Zach Dover was driving turned over and landed on his face almost two years ago, it split his skull, crushed both of his orbital bones, fractured his head in 156 places and pushed his nose to where his cheek was supposed to be.

Of course Dover, now 13, wasn't wearing a helmet.

Now he admits if he had been wearing a helmet, he'd have been better off. "Now when I see friends who aren't wearing helmets, I ask them why not," said Dover, of Matthews, Mo.

Dover, who looks surprisingly unscathed after eight surgeries and five facial plates, attended a meeting Tuesday morning in Cape Girardeau where the state unveiled a new data book about injuries, which shows statistics intended to raise awareness so more injuries are prevented.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services released the book "Injuries in Missouri: A Call to Action," on Monday. The book includes statewide and county data about the leading causes of unintentional, assault and self-inflicted injuries.

The department is promoting the book in communities throughout the state. The conference was held at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

In 1999, the latest year for which the book has data, 3,550 Missourians died from injuries.

Cape Girardeau County was given a relatively poor composite ranking, placing 73 out of 115 counties with several thousand residents reporting injuries to hospital emergency rooms in 1999.

Scott and Perry counties were among the worst in the state. Perry was ranked 114 -- second to last. Scott County was ranked 104 .

"The whole point of this book is that many injuries are preventable," said Joy Oesterly, the state injury prevention manager. "They don't have to happen."

She used car wrecks as an example.

"I don't like to call them motor vehicle accidents. They're crashes. If people wear their seat belts, they really improve their chances."

Oesterly also pointed out that the figures represent data from hospitals and don't include accidents where patients went directly to private physicians or were treated at the scene of accidents. Those figures, she said, would increase the total figures dramatically.

Preventive measures

The book offers prevention measures. For example, falls can be prevented by regular exercise to improve strength, making sure areas are free from hazards and keeping floors clear of clutter.

"It's really each person's personal responsibility," Oesterly said. "People hate to hear that, but it's true."

Hospital costs for emergency room and inpatient care related to injuries exceeded $887.9 million in 1999. About $785.5 million of these costs were attributed to unintentional injuries, followed by assault at more than $41.9 million and self-inflicted injuries at more than $20.8 million. The government's Medicaid program pays more than $24.6 million of these costs.

"So it affects everyone as taxpayers," Oesterly told the group of hospital workers and members of the Safe Kids Coalition, which promotes safety through education and programs that provide helmets and car seats.

Dr. Paul Caruso, a pediatric hospitalist at Southeast, said that much of the responsibility should fall on parents. He said parents have told him they can't get their children to wear their helmets while riding bikes.

"So why do they have bikes?" he said. "Parents have to parent. Wearing a helmet isn't cool, but neither is being paralyzed from the neck down."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137