Letters To The Editor
W?'rt disallowing soma of the mileage you've declared...your entry for March 10
indicates you took a SCENIC route, not the most direct."
Others being sought
with same disease
To the Editor:
As a scleroderma patient who
has suffered alone for too many
years with a disease that few peo
ple have ever even heard of, 1 am
attempting to locate others who
suffer from scleroderma (systemic
sclerosis).
My New Year's resolution is to
correspond with as many
scleroderma patients as possible.
Doctors tell me there are 300,000
of us. Perhaps your readers can
assist me in locating others like
myself.
I can be reached at 21 Brennan
Street,. #21, Watsonville, CA
t. ''jVhirik'v^;' 1
> feahe Williams
Long's practices
are questioned
_ Tp. thq Editor:
Every day additional stories are
; filed in Raleigh concerning newly
; sworn in Commissioner of In
? surance, Jim Long, and his trashy
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(SO
ABfekufckHI' g
efforts to obtain as much publicity
as he can in his "world class media
events."
The whole thrust of Mr. Long's
attitude was "pack your gear,
clean out your desk, and get out of
here before I take the oath of of
fice Saturday at noon." In this
chaotic atmosphere that Jim Long
had deliberately created, I
misunderstood Commissioner In
gram's directive to (1) leave in my
files all material (which could in
clude some Beacon material which
I boxed for Archives) that would
be helpful to the next administra
tion, and (2) send other material to
Archives. It is, therefore, unfair
for newpapers to misrepresent
John Ingram's request for Ar
chives storage for five years. He
n^Ver intended to seal thesepapers
from being available as public
documents.
The people of North Carolina
deserve to know about this chaotic
condition that Jim Long created by
illegally firing State employees
before he was sworn in as In
surance Commissioner by giving
some only 24 hours, and others no
more than 48 hours, notice.
I think John Ingram's
employees did a fine job under
these chaotic conditions in retain
ing useful materials and discarding
the trash, such as duplicates and
other unnecessary papers going
back as far as twelve years.
Compare Jim Long's madness in
having to re-fire us (employees)
because he was not even legally the
Commissioner when he mailed the
first letter of termination. It would
appear that he is still mad about
John Ingram firing him in 1976. A
lot of people need to remember
Long's irrational behavior when he
threw a beer party in the
Legislative Building at the end of
the '75 session, during which ses
sion I represented Guilford County
in the House of Representatives.
Needless to say, 1 did not attend
his beer party, but I heard a lot of
voters' criticism of Long's using
state property for this
unreasonable purpose of ques
tionable legality.
Thomas B. Sawyer
Former Director of
Technical Operations
North Carolina Department
of Insurance
Raleigh, North Carolina
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Too many babies dying in NC
By Dr. Earl Siegel
It is often said that a society is
judged by the care it provides those
least able to care for themselves. If
that is so, what does North
Carolina's high infant mortality
say about our state?
Too many of our babies are dy
ing. In 1983 (the last year for
which figures are available) 1,176
babies died in North Carolina, for
an infant mortality rate (the
number of babies under one year
who die per 1,000 live births) of
13.2.
North Carolina's rate was worse
than 90% of the other states and
much higher than the national
average of 10.9. We were almost
twice as high as Montana -- the
state with the lowest rate (7.7).
North Carolina ranked behind
Texas (11.2) - a state with a large
migrant population, Michigan
(11.2) - a state with serious
unemployment, and surrounding
states, including Virginia (11.3),
Tennessee (12.9) and Kentucky
(10.6).
The infant mortality picture for
nonwhites in North Carolina was
particularly tragic.
Their rate was 19.1, double that
of the 10.5 for whites. That means
a nonwhite infant in North
Carolina in 1983 was as likely to
die as an infant in such less
developed countries as Honduras,
where the rate is 21.
Death of our babies is not the
only shocking consequence of lack
of adequate health care for
mothers and unborn infants in
North Carolina.
The percentage of our babies
with low birth weight, which
makes them much less likely to sur
vive, is consistently higher (7.9 %)
than the national average (6.8) and
is very much higher than other
countries such as Norway (3. 3%),
Sweden (4.0%) and Switzerland
(5.1%).
Low birth weight babies, those
weighing less than 5.5 pounds, are
40 times more likely to die in early
infancy, while very low- birth
weight infants weighing less than
three pounds three ounces, are at *"
200 times greater risk of dying.
Babies born too soon or tot
small not only die in much greater
numbers than full term babies. If
they survive, they suffer from
much more physical and mental
handicaps. Among very low birth
weight babies, whose survival has
improved so much recently, 10%
arc severely affected by these prob
lems, with another 25% moderate
ly and mildly affected.
Both low birth weight and very
low birth weight babies are twice as
frequent among blacks as whites
(5.9%) of white babies and 12.1%
of black babies are low birth
weight; .9% of white babies and
2.6% of black babies are very low
birth weight).
This state made enormous
strides in reducing infant mortali
ty, beginning in 1974. The infant
mortality for very low birth weight
babies fell by almost 50%. This
marked reduction resulted from
major advances in intensive care
for mothers and babies provided
by specially trained obstetricians,
pediatricians, nurses and other
health providers. These health pro
fessionals work in a coordinated,
statewide system of regional
maternal and infant health care.
But the situation, sadly, has
changed. Our infant mortality,
along with that of 1 1 other states,
increased in 1982. It dropped only
slightly in 1983.
Nonwhite infant mortality rose
significantly, especially in urban
areas. White infant mortality, in
general, continued to decline, but
there was a significant increase for
mothers 20 to 24 years of age.
Meanwhile, the number of
premature and low birth weight as
well as very low birth weight in
fants has stayed at high levels for
the past 10 years.
North Carolina has the capabili
ty to achieve another sharp reduc
tion in its infant mortality rate. An
effective strategy would include:
First, development of more ef
fective community approaches for
reaching sexually active
adolescents. We need to provide
information, education and family
planning services to prevent
unplanned and unwanted pregnan
cies among high risk women
because these result in high infanty
mortality and low birth weight.
Second, we need to expand the
accessibility of high quality pre
natal tare to the highest risk poor
women who, paradoxically over
the years, have been the most
under served. Much research has
demonstrated that assuring all
pregnant women early and fre
quent pre-natal care visits will
significantly reduce infant mortali
ty.
Finally, North Carolina needs to
take aggressive action to prevent
prematurity, low birth weight and
very low birth weight. During the
past year and a half health care
professionals, within the
framework of the regional mater
nal and infant program, have
targeted preventing premature
births. Basically, the strategy re
quires identification and education
of women who are at high risk of
premature labor. Beginning at the
fifth or sixth month of pregnancy,
these women should be seen at
weekly intervals to help them and
their obstetricians detect the
earliest signs of premature labor.
When these occur, prompt treat
ment has been shown to stop
labor, extending the duration of
pregnancy and leading to less mor
tality, prematurity and low birth
weight.
Such preventive medicine is ex
tremely cost effective. Each pound
a premature baby puts on in a
hospital setting costs $S,000. Even
with such expensive care, many
die.
The cost of not acting is pro
hibitive. At least one third of the
very low birth weight children who
survive are handicapped by prob
lems that could have been
prevented. The families face ongo
ing severe psychological and
economic challenges in caring for
these children. Society bears the
cost of medical care, rehabilitative
and educational services as well as
the long range, unrealized
economic productivity of these
children as adults.
In short, we can reduce the
tragedy of dying and handicapped
babies in our state by cost-effective
programs in each of our com
munities. We should act now.
(Editor's note: Siegel is Pro
fessor of Maternal A Child Health
and Clinical Professor of
Pediatrics at the University of
North Carolina at Chape! Hill.
Copyright (C) 1985 by the North
Carolina Forum.
Letters Policy
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welcomed. Writers should keep letters
as short as possible. Names, addresses
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cluded and all letters must be signed.
Names will be printed; however, other
information will be kept confidential.
We reserve the right to edit letters for
good taste and brevity. Letters should
be received by The News-Journal by
noon on the Monday of the publication
week.
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