Thursday, January 24, 2002

By BILLY TOWNSEND
The Ledger

BARTOW -- It's never a good day as a health department director when a new study declares your county the least healthy in the state, especially with no advanced warning.

It happened last month to Dr. Daniel Haight, director of the Polk County Health Department.

"It blindsided me," Haight told county commissioners Wednesday.

The study measured adult mortality, maternal and child health, screening and prevention, premature death tied to community violence, infectious disease and community resources.

It ranked Polk last in health among counties with populations greater than 400,000, with a score lower than any county -- regardless of size -- in the state.

With a month now passed to study the study, Haight appeared before commissioners hoping to lend it some context.

And the bottom lines, as he sees them, are this:

The figures the study used came from 1992-1996. They're out of date.

• Health trends in Polk County since 1996 are generally good.
• Polk's rating suffered mostly from a low ratio of physicians per resident and poor maternal and child health. In the other categories, Polk is more or less comparable to other large counties.

  And in the last few years, the Health Department has focused much of its attention -- with some success -- on maternal and child health, reducing child mortality and teen-age pregnancy rates, though each remains high compared to other counties.

  "Our infant mortality rate is dropping," Haight said. "And that's an important measure of pre-natal care."

  In fact, the health trend that most concerns Haight has little to do with sickness.

  Polk County's accidental death rate has continued to rise in the years since the study and is the worst among the large counties.

  Most of that can be traced to car crashes, Haight said.

  "We're going to have to spend time on it," Haight said. "We are losing more young people in Polk County than in other counties."

  The overall picture of health in Polk County is improving, though it's far from rosy, Haight said.

  Commissioners agreed and generously provided their own versions of context in which the health quality study should be taken.

  "We've had a great deal of improvement," Commissioner Bruce Parker said. "But I do not feel we're where we need to be."

  Commissioner Don Gifford said the county should be careful of how literally it takes studies and statistics, which he described as easily manipulated.

  "We could hire a consultant to make a case that Polk County is the healthiest county in Florida," Gifford said.

   

  Billy Townsend can be reached at billy.townsend@theledger.com or 863-802-7540.