Health matters

Get the word out to the public

The year 2020 is the 75th anniversary of some remarkable World War II events. On April 2, 1945, the USS Henrico, with future governor Winthrop Rockefeller on board, was hit by a kamikaze. Rockefeller sustained burns from the fires. On Sept. 2, Little Rock-born Douglas MacArthur accepted the surrender of Japan on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

North Little Rock is the home of two historic ships from World War II. The tugboat USS Hoga was present at Pearl Harbor during the attack on Dec. 7, 1941. Right next to the Hoga in the Arkansas River floats the USS Razorback. It was one of 12 American submarines present in Tokyo Bay for the surrender.

From the attack on Pearl Harbor to the surrender in Tokyo Bay, America’s steely resolve led to victory in less than four years. Today we Americans in the area of public health seem to lack that sense of urgency and common purpose. Influenza can be nasty if you get it and even worse if you die, yet probably only about half of adult Arkansans get the flu shot.

Too many babies die from sharing an adult bed rather than sleeping alone in a safe crib. Despite the evidence, a recent survey of new mothers showed that a quarter of them intended to share a bed with their baby.

The Cancer Prevention Vaccine for Human Papilloma Virus when given in two doses to preteens can dramatically reduce the risk of certain types of cancer, including cervical cancer, that are caused by this virus. But too many of our kids aren’t getting it, and too many young adults head out into the world unprotected.

All women of child-bearing age should take a daily folic acid supplement, but too few do, and most don’t know they should. The result is too many babies born with anencephaly or neuro-tube defects.

Too many of us glance at our phones when we drive. Too many of us smoke and use tobacco. Some of us don’t like seatbelts. Many of us make alcohol the center of our social life even though the medical evidence clearly shows its health risks. And most of us miss out on some of the really effective preventive measures that are available.

One time I heard a health policy wonk say that he thought it would take 100 years for America to become the healthy active place we want it to be. I don’t have that long. So what can we do?

“Advertising works.” Some politico reached this obvious conclusion watching Mike Bloomberg’s polling numbers climb 15 percent after spending close to a half-billion dollars. There are about 34 million smokers. What if we spent a half-billion dollars on a no-smoking campaign, and five million smokers (15 percent) saw something that changed their view of smoking. Worth it? Probably. Less death, less disease, fewer strokes, less cancer, better role models for children.

Would they all be successful? Of course not, but spending that kind of money would not take 100 years to dramatically decrease the use of tobacco. OK, we are not going to spend a half-billion dollars, but “Advertising Works.”

Here’s another possibility. There are 500 cities and towns in Arkansas, and 75 counties. What if every day for the next 575 days, one local mayor or county judge surrounded by local officials, doctors, teachers, nurses, quarterbacks, and anyone else interested did a 10-minute press conference on how to safely put a baby to bed in a crib and how to be sure that baby maximizes his opportunity to have a safe night? The basics: Lay her on her back (“Back to Sleep”) in a safe crib, no stuffed toys, no loose blankets, no pillows, no smoking in the room. And pacifiers are just fine. The target audience: everyone! Because grandparents and all of us, not just new moms and dads, put babies to bed.

Or what if every middle school and high school halftime in basketball and football and the seventh-inning stretch of every baseball game had a two-minute skit, dance, or song on something related to our public health? What if videos were shared of these presentations and cash prizes were given to the schools with the best ones?

Those are a few ideas that might work so we don’t have to wait 100 years. What are yours?