Laserfiche WebLink
r JAN 31 04 BOOK <br />91 PA,UF. 6:30 <br />CHILDREN AND HEALTH <br />Dr. Bernard Berman, Health Director for Indian River County, <br />reported there are about 16,000 young people under the age of 15 <br />years in Indian River County, with about 1,000 births per year. <br />The community must deal with the health of all those children. We <br />are not a large city with the corresponding problems of a large <br />city, but we do have some problems. We have a few cases of AIDS, <br />we see cases of sexually transmitted diseases, and we have problems <br />with immunizations, but the greatest problem we have is children <br />having children. The Health Department Maternity Clinic oversees <br />about 500 of the 1,000 births in our county each year, which means <br />these people are 200 percent under poverty level, on Medicaid and <br />will go on Aid to Families with Dependent Children. We have two <br />full-time pediatricians, which is not enough. Clearly we do not <br />have enough physicians or medical care facilities in this county to <br />take care of all our health needs. <br />Jean Kline, nursing director, described the lack of available <br />facilities for treating mental health problems. Only the most <br />severe cases are given attention because counselors have too many <br />cases, and children with attention and learning deficits are not <br />even seen. It is only when the children become part of the <br />juvenile justice system that they receive attention. Once again we <br />are working on the wrong end of the system. Only by working with <br />the child, the family, the school, and the teachers can we achieve <br />successful mental health treatment. Regarding dental care, 30% of <br />children 3 to 12 need treatment, 2% need immediate treatment <br />because of abscesses, 50% have tooth decay. We are making small <br />inroads to better dental care but the needs far outnumber the <br />currently available services. <br />TEEN PREGNANCY <br />Charlene Tardi, Indian River County Dropout Prevention Program <br />coordinator reported on the extent of the teen parent problem in <br />our community: <br />Birth Information ' <br />Substance -Exposed Newborns (1992) 52 <br />Low Birthweight Babies (1992) .68 <br />Teenage Pregnancies (1992) 127 <br />Unwed Mothers (1992) 1022 <br />14 <br />