Arkansas Blog

Don't know what if any role it might play, but it can't help that Arkansas is lacking when it comes to vaccinations of kids under age 3. Far too many parents in the Natural State steer away from immunizing their kids, due to unfounded fears about vaccines causing autism and such.

No doubt, Betty Bumpers is devastated by this slide backwards. Old timers might recall that back in the 70s, Arkansas had one of the lowest immunization rates in the country. Enter Miss Betty: She stepped up to the plate and spearheaded a system for childhood vaccinations that became a national model after the state reversed course and achieved one of the nations' highest immunization rates.

It takes leadership like this to improve public health. Like, you know, implementing a statewide trauma system, a system that ONLY the State of Arkansas is without. It's lamentable that when a bill to establish one was introduced during the 2007 session of the Arkansas General Assembly, Gov. Beebe (for whom I voted) did not support it. I've heard all the excuses for his taking a hike on this matter, but find none of 'em satisfactory.

Is that really true, that Arkansas is the ONLY state without a trauma system? Wow!

I should have been more explicit, rablib. Arkansas is the only state without a Level I trauma center. It will be the ONLY state without a trauma system at any level when South Dakota and Kentucky pass legislation as expected later this year.

State health officials have testified that a statewide trauma system would save the lives of 200 to 600 Arkansans who die each year because they can't get needed emergency care fast enough and at the places best equipped and staffed for treatment. Isn't it about time this state gets off its lethargic butt and get this deplorable situation corrected?

I wonder if this lack of healthcare has any connection to school performance. Of course, it does. Healthy children perform better in school. Schools can not do it alone. Perhaps we should take care of the total child rather than simply testing them into oblivion. Let's take the hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars we are spending testing children (to find out what any teacher worth their salt could already tell you, by the way), to help create a social economic environment that supports children and their families and gives them a chance to succeed.