QUALITIES OF LIFE: REPORT LOOKS AT CITY'S HEALTH

Health awareness is not as big a problem as it used to be, but local health providers warn that the advice only works when put into practice.

Jane Wernsman, assistant director of the Cape County Health Department, said it is difficult to assess the overall health of the region. She said in some areas there has been improvement and in other areas there is still some work to be done.

She said through better technology areas such as child immunization has improved dramatically in recent years. In 1995, only 71.3 percent of children two and under were immunized. In 1998, that number jumped to 93.1 percent.

And in the area of sexually transmitted disease, the number of screenings at the clinic has remained at about 1,000 per year, but the number of positive screenings has declined, she said.

But the 1998 Chamber of Commerce Qualities of Life Report indicates that in areas such as heart disease, and infant mortality, the city of Cape Girardeau may have some work to do in health prevention.

According to the report the number of deaths due to heart disease went from 233 in 1995 to 253 in 1996, making it the third year in a row that deaths due to heart disease went up.

Ruth McDonnell, director of the Heart Institute at St. Francis Medical Center, said the figures follow a national trend of heart disease. She said back in the early nineties, there was reduction in the number of deaths caused by heart disease.

"We really excited," McDonnell said. "We thought we were really making a difference. Then in the mid-nineties, we started to see a real reversal."

She said some of the reasons for the increase in heart disease fatalities is problems with managed health care plans not covering certain treatments. But she said perhaps the main cause is an unwillingness to listen to the medical community's advice.

"I think all of our education impacted a certain segment of the population, but the rest of the people really didn't buy it," she said.

McDonnell said that many people who are aging may be dying and affecting the statistics, but she said she would not at all be surprised to see the number of heart disease fatalities remain high for many years to come.

But she said it is difficult to get people to do something about it because until they have a heart attack, they often don't feel any symptoms.

"People don't feel any side effects and don't seek help," McDonnell said.

She said people have to start at an early age to prevent heart disease because the build up in the arteries starts even as early as the teen years. This means people have to start watching how much fat they eat and stop smoking.

"Food is a big part of culture," McDonnell said. "What we are asking is for them to begin making some changes that have brought them a lot of pleasure."

That does not mean avoid all fat, but people should use a little common sense and eat in moderation, she said.

Infant mortality rate goes up

The infant mortality rate went from 2.5 in 1995 to 10.0 in 1996. This means that out of the 803 births in Cape Girardeau that year, there were 8 children who died before age one.

Cape Girardeau pediatrician Gary Olson said it may just be a statistical fluke.

"We are dealing with such small numbers that a few numbers here and there make it seem like a big difference," Olson said.

Connie Simmons, a Cape Girardeau pediatrician, said the national infant mortality rate is around nine percent. She said the number has not really gone down in recent years because there have some problems with mothers using drugs and their babies often die from the exposure.

She said in the area of sudden infant death syndrome, the medical profession has made great strides since getting mothers to lay their babies on their sides or backs to sleep.

"A lot of babies were sleeping with their face down," Simmons said. "We didn't know if they were suffocating or what."

The problems of SIDS still exists, but the number of deaths have gone down, which means the number of deaths have to be attributed to other causes.

Olson suggested that maybe one factor is that doctors have been able to deliver babies in the 24th or 25th week of pregnancy in an emergency where in the past those babies would have been lost.

"Obviously if you try to save them, you run the risk of losing them," Olson said.

By delivering them, that can impact the infant mortality rate.

But whatever the cause, both Simmons and Olson said the mother's health plays an important part in delivering healthy babies -- and avoiding smoking and other pollutants will help the child develop and grow.

"We still have mothers who are not getting any prenatal care," Simmons said. "Some of them are still smoking. That leads to a lot of low-birth weight babies.