Rating our children's health

Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Scott counties all showed improvements in the 2005 Kids Count report analyzing children's health and well-being in all 114 counties in the state and the city of St. Louis. But some Bootheel counties continue to rank near the bottom in the health and welfare of their children. New Madrid, Pemiscot and Dunklin counties rank only ahead of the city of St. Louis, which annually is at the bottom of the rankings.

Dunklin ranked 114, Pemiscot County, 113, and New Madrid County 112 in the latest Kids Count report. They all ranked poorly in all 10 categories, which show these counties have many low-income students, high-school dropouts and teenage moms, and numerous cases of child abuse.

Poverty is the largest factor in children's health, said Beth Griffin, executive director of the Citizens for Missouri's Children group based in St. Louis. Citizens for Missouri's Children publishes the annual Kids Count report. The 2005 report is based on 2004 data.

Low-income families often can't afford medical care and have no reliable transportation to get to doctors' offices, she said. Affluent Platte County north of Kansas City ranked first in the report.

Kids Count says nearly a fourth of Missouri's children didn't receive preventive medical care in 2004, and only 56 percent received both preventive medical care and preventive dental care.

According to the latest report, Cape Girardeau County ranked 25th best in the state. It ranked 29th a year ago.

"The composite ranking of 25 is definitely good," said Beth Griffin, executive director of the Citizens for Missouri's Children group based in St. Louis.

Bollinger County garnered a 72 ranking compared to 82 a year ago. Scott County was ranked 87th. Last year, it ranked 94th.

While Cape Girardeau County fared well overall, the report showed a growing problem with teenagers having babies -- one of six indicators that drew worse rankings than in the 2004 report. The county ranked 47th in the state in teen births compared to a ranking of 26 a year ago.

Michelle Moon counsels pregnant teens, girls who many times have dropped out of school and now must raise a child on a limited income that often barely covers the cost of groceries.

Moon directs Birthright of Cape Girardeau, a private organization that counsels would-be mothers from throughout the region and assists them with such things as baby formula and diapers.

Cape Girardeau County also gets a failing mark for annual high school dropouts with a rank of 65, but that improved from a rank of 75 in 2004. The county improved from an infant mortality rank of 71 in 2004 to 40th in 2005.

Charlotte Craig, director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, said the Kids Count report helps pinpoint local health issues.

"We do look at Kids Count. We look at all of our data," she said. "It is not perfect. It is at least a gauge," she said. The 2005 report reflects data from 2004.

Craig said the public health center has treated a growing number of pregnant girls. She said county health centers around the state have been hampered in family planning efforts since Missouri lawmakers cut state funding for such services about three years ago.

"A lot of us predicted we might see problems as a result of that," Craig said.

Birthright's Moon said the growing number of teenage mothers reflects society's greater acceptance of single moms. As a result, fewer teens see abortion as an option, she said.

Nationwide, a third of babies are born to single mothers, she said.

Bollinger County's improved ranking overall pleases local health officials, but Bollinger County health department administrator Beverly Piepenbrok said teenage pregnancies remain a serious problem. The county ranks 76th in births to teenagers. But that's better than a year ago when the county ranked 80th.

Piepenbrok said her office works through the schools to discourage teenagers from getting pregnant.

Bollinger County improved in six ranked categories including births to mothers without high school diplomas; and infant mortality. Piepenbrok believes the county has made progress in dealing with the health and welfare of children. She said that's partly because Bollinger County families have increased access to health care services with the operation of Cross Trails Medical Center in Marble Hill.

The county improved its poor rank in annual high school dropouts, jumping from 108th to 97th in the past year. However, the county worsened significantly in violent deaths (ages 15-19), going from 13th to 56th.

In Scott County, one area of improvement is in teenage pregnancies. Scott County Public Health Center administrator Barry Cook credits health education and family planning services in reducing the statistics.

"We do have a health educator who has been working in the schools," he said. "We are still running a family planning clinic."

Cook said his agency charges fees to users to help fund the clinic. "Family planning is mainly about birth control," he said. But the clinic also offers various health screenings.

Even with the improved rankings, Scott County remains in the bottom third of counties in the Kids Count report. Lingering issues like teen pregnancies (a 108 ranking), low birthweight infants (108th) and infant mortality (107th) take time to address, Cook said. "They are not going to go away overnight."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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