Project assesses critical social issues for area

More than 6,200 people in Cape Girardeau County and Scott City do not own vehicles, and 62 percent of the population is either uninsured or on Medicaid/ Medicare.

Those are two factors that influenced the newly created focus of a partnership with representatives from local school districts, city government, health and social services and community organizations.

The Community Assessment Partnership, formed in 2001 through the Area Wide United Way and the Community Caring Council, on Thursday identified four social issues that are critical for area residents -- public transportation, affordable medical care, drug/alcohol abuse and family issues.

In the next month, partnership members will develop an action plan for the issues, which were chosen after an in-depth community needs assessment that included surveys and focus groups.

"No, we aren't going to solve poverty, but the bottom line is to change the lives of families," said Nancy Jernigan, director of the Area Wide United Way. "That's why we're doing this, for that one or two or 1,000 families we might help."

The community assessment project, which began in 2002, sent surveys to 2,500 households, 49 public and private service agencies, 225 community leaders, 41 local businesses and 58 clubs and organizations.

A total of 693 surveys were returned and used to rank the top 11 social issues facing the community: public transportation, affordable medical care, parenting skills, affordable housing, poverty, independent living, leisure/culture, teen pregnancy, family violence/child abuse, alcohol/drug abuse and mental health.

Throughout the assessment, data was collected on each of the issues as they affect Cape Girardeau County, Cape Girardeau City, Jackson and Scott City. Much of that data was used to narrow the top 11 issues to the final four, including how many people are impacted, the financial costs to society, trends and the ability of the community to have an impact.

Part of the partnership's goal is to make the community more aware of the help available.

"Cape is very blessed with many resources, but there are many people who don't know about them or how to access them," said Kay Azuma, coordinator for the assessment.

The following is a summary of data collected through the partnership's community assessment on each of the four critical issues:

Inadequate public transportationPublic transportation was ranked first on three out of four surveys distributed during the assessment. The partnership found that around 2,100 households in Cape Girardeau County and Scott City do not own vehicles. The majority of those households, 1,457, are in the city of Cape Girardeau.

Although there are several public transportation-related programs in place now, including Cape County Transit Authority and SADI, the partnership's analysis found that the problems associated with this issue stemmed from duplication of services and lack of coordination.

Potential actions include a master tracking system to improve the efficiency of the services and create a fixed transportation route system for the city of Cape Girardeau.

Affordable medical careAn analysis of this issue found that nearly 13,000 children in Cape Girardeau County and Scott City are on Medicaid or Medicare.

Affordable medical care was ranked second in importance by focus groups and on a survey sent to households. It ranked third and fourth on surveys sent to community leaders and on neighborhood surveys.

Among the causes listed for this to be an issue were rising costs of insurance and decreasing benefits, overuse or improper use of system, poverty and limited Medicaid/Medicare providers.

"We can't do much about how much hospitals charge or benefits from insurance companies," Jernigan said. "But we can work together to open a clinic or provide resources for low-income families."

Other potential actions include legislative reform, increase in prevention practices, increase in Medicaid providers and increased access to dental care.

Alcohol/drug abuseAlcohol and drug abuse were ranked third and fifth by focus groups and community leaders respectively. More than 1,600 people were arrested in Cape Girardeau County and Scott City in 2001 for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The problem was ranked 18th and 19th out of 24 issues on household surveys, but the partnership's analysis found that this abuse impacts touches all communities and all income levels.

There are several treatment programs and other resources already in existence, some filled to capacity with waiting lists.

Potential actions include a family drug court, raising taxes on alcohol and tobacco and implementing a fetal alcohol resource center.

Family issuesIn 2000, there were 3,450 single-parent homes and 2,040 families living in poverty in Cape Girardeau County and Scott City.

The community assessment identified several related issues concerning families, including parenting skills, child abuse and poverty. Those were eventually grouped together to form the fourth critical issue.

Partnership members such as Lynne Cairns with the Division of Family Services believe improving one will influence others.

"The assessment shows child abuse is a significant problem," Cairns said. "By helping things like mental health and parenting skills, I think abuse will decrease. It's all intertwined."

Potential actions include better marketing of existing resources, male-focused programs and referrals from private physicians to parenting classes or resources.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128