Survey ranks health of Nevada’s children near bottom

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2000 | 11:24 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada has made progress in the overall health of its children but is still near the bottom in a national survey, a state task force was told Tuesday.

Serious problem areas are teen pregnancy, teen smoking and low-birth-weight babies.

Mary Guinan, the state health officer, said Nevada ranked 46th among the states in national surveys in 1999, slightly better than in 1996 when the state was last in the nation.

Improvement has been made in curbing infant mortality, which has dropped 35 percent in recent years, Guinan said, but the number of low-weight babies, who will probably have major health problems in later life, has grown by 7 percent.

Guinan said 52 percent of the low-weight babies will probably end up in special education programs for the physically or mentally disabled.

Nevada has the highest rate of teenage girls giving birth to children, and Guinan estimates that about a quarter of the women smoke during their pregnancies. Some may be using drugs or alcohol.

"We need a targeted treatment program," Guinan said.

Guinan delivered the report to the Task Force for the Fund for a Healthy Nevada, which is looking at the needs of children to decide how to spend part of the tobacco settlement expected to flow to the state over the next 20 years. The task force heard a variety of witnesses Tuesday discussing programs and the needs of children.

Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, co-chairwoman of the task force, said about $1 million a year will grow to $4.5 million in future years to distribute to programs to help children.

Buckley, who said the tobacco money should not be used to replace state money, said she expects the task force will seek applications for the funds from various agencies and organizations sometime in July.

She said the task force will have to decide whether it wants to allocate small sums, such as $5,000, to hundreds of agencies or to focus the money in one or two particular areas.

Buckley asked Roger Volker, director of the Great Basin Primary Care Association, what the greatest need is for children. He replied that dental care is critically needed by an estimated 120,000 children, who suffer from tooth problems that distract them at school.

He said five counties have dentists who don't take children covered by Medicaid.

Christa Peterson, deputy administrator of the state Division of Child and Family Services, said of an estimated 35,800 severely emotionally disturbed children in Nevada, only 16 percent get services from two state agencies.

Peterson said some of those children are covered by Medicaid and private health insurance policies.

Charlotte Crawford, director of the state Department of Human Resources, cited various estimates of how many children don't have health insurance.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates 23.1 percent of children under 18 are not covered by health insurance. On the other hand, a UNLV study showed only 0.6 percent of children are without coverage. Crawford estimated the real figure may be 15 percent uninsured.

Crawford calls it a "great frustration" because there are no firm figures on which to determine the needs of Nevada's children.

Cy Ryan covers state government for the Sun. He can be reached at (775) 687-5032.