The headlines of the Clarion Ledger scream of yet another sad statistic. A report released by the March of Dimes scored Mississippi with an F in the number of premature babies born last year. The 2017 March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card indicates that the preterm birth rate is 13.6 percent. The news is even worse when the demographics are reviewed. According to the report, in Mississippi, the preterm birth rate among black women is 46% higher than the rate among all other women. One has to wonder, with the state budget cuts to the Health Department and federal delays on passing legislation for the CHIP program which provides health care to the poorest children in the country, how will we look, and feel, twenty years from now.
On the front page of the very same edition of the paper, a story appears about an expected drop in state revenue for next year. Dr. Darrin Webb, state economist, when asked how Mississippi compares to other states that have a much higher rate of economic growth, is quoted as answering that while the reasons are complex, one fact that has to be considered is Mississippi’s “high rate of disability among its citizens.” “There are a lot of unhealthy people,” he said.
According to the March of Dimes in 2005, the medical cost, on average, for a premature birth is over $30,000 as compared to $3,325 for a term birth. While the data is over 10 years old, the comparison is striking and is just the beginning for many parents who will continue to bear the economic as well as emotional burden of caring for a child with significant health, learning, and living challenges.
Despite the attempts being made to present a smiley face on current conditions for children in our state, the stories reported beg to differ. What happens today affects tomorrow, as much as we would like to pretend it doesn’t. We cannot continue to dismiss this real people issue by commenting that “it” will have to be addressed on someone else’s watch.
For the companies seeking workers who have not only the cognitive skills but the physical stamina to report to work every day, tomorrow is today. For the parents whose child was born prematurely today, today starts now. For the communities and the taxpayers who are paying disability benefits through taxes to those who qualify, it is now, not tomorrow. Today is when we plan for the workforce of tomorrow. The bedrock of the plan and its implementation is an acknowledgment that healthy children who are receiving a high quality comprehensive early childhood program, along with supports to their parents, is the wisest investment that can be made.
Shame on us for turning a deaf ear when a loud collective voice screams about the sanctity of life and yet we refuse to scream as loud when the quality of life is clearly in jeopardy.
By Dr. Cathy Grace