KEEPING PEOPLE HEALTHY: HEALTH DEPARTMENT CHANGES TO MEET NEEDS OF RESIDENTS

After nearly 20 years with the Cape Girardeau County Health Department, Charlotte Craig has seen a lot of changes.

The department has outgrown and moved from cramped quarters in the basement of the county courthouse in Jackson, to the Common Pleas Courthouse Annex, and finally to its own building on Linden Street.

Support for the department has also grown as citizens have recognized the need for a public health agency. In August 1986, Cape County voters passed a 10-cent property tax levy that gave the department a permanent source of funding, and was viewed as an expression of public support for what the department was doing and could do.

But even with the permanent funding base, growing facilities and expanding services, Craig said many people still have the misperception the county health department is a welfare agency.

"I still fight that welfare image," said Craig, department administrator. "It is important that people realize this is their health department. They pay taxes for it. If we have a program that fits their need they are entitled to take advantage of it."

Craig noted the only programs that have income guidelines in her department are the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program and Medicaid.

Citizens benefit from four environmental health sanitarians and other services without realizing it.

"If you go and eat in a restaurant or have well water tested, you are using health department services," Craig said.

Five years ago the department moved to its own building at 1121 Linden St., with 7,000 square feet of space. That compared with 1,400 feet of space in the Common Pleas Annex.

The increased space enabled the department to expand its services, including a primary-care clinic for Medicaid and low-income children younger than 18.

The clinic opened two years ago and serves 1,726 children in Cape and Bollinger counties. In the last year there were nearly 3,300 visits to the clinic.

"This provides a valuable service for children who did not have access to regular health care," Craig said, adding that nearly all of the children are on Medicaid.

Both St. Francis and Southeast hospitals support the clinic, and Craig points out that it is "looked at very favorably and fondly around the state as an excellent example of collaboration."

Because of the growth of the program, the department's board recently approved funding to finish the basement, which will initially house the clinic and expand overall space by 3,000 square feet.

The new area will include six examination rooms and a large reception area. Eventually, Craig hopes services can be expanded to include a primary-care clinic for adults.

Some of the funding for the children's clinic is coming from a grant. An application has been made for a grant to support the adult clinch.

The county health department also provides between 400 and 500 immunizations a month, HIV counseling and testing, operates a sexually transmitted disease program, has a tuberculosis screening program and follows up on communicable diseases.

Other services include a home-visit program for residents referred by doctors, environmental health, and WIC, which is the supplemental food program of the federal government to insure pregnant women, new mothers and infants have proper nutrition.

The department also serves as the registrar of state vital statistics, handling birth and death certificates.

Craig said one area the department would like to get more involved in is health education, but current funds aren't enough to expand into that area.

However, the sanitarians conduct several educational programs each year, including a food school for new employees of restaurants.

The department has a budget of about $945,000 and receives just more than half of that from the property tax levy. Remaining funds come from state and federal programs and special grants.

In all, the health department has 28 on its staff. That includes eight registered nurses, six full and two part time; two nursing assistants; four environmental health sanitarians; one nurse practitioner; two nutritionists, one full and one part time; one maintenance worker; and nine clerical workers.

Operations of the department are overseen by a five-member board of directors, elected by county residents. Members of the board include: Larry Wade of Jackson, chairman; Pat Abernathy of Jackson; and John Janssen, Dr. Mike Wulfers and Diane Howard, all of Cape Girardeau.

Additional support comes from Southeast Missouri State University. The department provides field experience for nursing students and some other classes.

"We stay pretty busy at our facility," Craig said. "It never really lets up."