Acknowledgments

The information provided in Arkansas Vital Statistics 2000 is an integral part in quantifying and assessing progress made in the health status of Arkansas residents. Although acknowledging each person connected with this publication is impractical, several individuals and organizations deserve special recognition.

The Center for Health Statistics has primary responsibility for the analysis of birth, death, marriage, divorce, spontaneous and induced abortions data as well as for the preparation of Arkansas Vital Statistics 2000. This report is prepared under the supervision of the Director of the Center for Health Statistics, Douglas R. Murray. Paul Johnson, Senior Research Analyst, and Thaer Baroud, Health Program Analyst, prepare the data for the report and generate the tables.

The Division of Vital Records (Sharon Leinbach, Director and State Registrar) is responsible for the collection and registration of all vital events. The data compiled from these records are used to produce this report.

Collaboration between colleagues in the Center for Health Statistics and the Division of Vital Records is essential in providing accurate data. John Senner PhD, Senior Research Analyst, edits fetal death information and processes data from the United States Census Bureau to produce population data for report production. Dorene Harris, Statistician for the Center, does medical data quality assurance with input from Faye McLelland, Secretary. Grace Carson, Records Management Analyst, Mike Adams, Assistant Director, Steve Whisnant, Field Representative, and Vanessa Calamese, Data Processing Supervisor, all from Vital Records, ensure that data corrections are made in a timely manner. Our Documents Examiners perform a wide variety of duties. Denise Lenard assists with keying cause of death from the death certificates. She also keys in fetal death certificates as well as out-of-state death certificates. Charlotte Spencer keys the out-of-state birth certificates. And Mary Richardson provides ongoing support in the editing process. Charlotte Caldwell, Secretary, is responsible for keying induced abortion data and for distribution of all reports.

The Division of Information Technology Services (Gerald Perkins, Director) provides the computer facilities for data entry and management.

Most out-of-state occurrences of vital events to Arkansas residents are incorporated into this report through inter-state exchange agreements; although marriage, divorce, and some induced abortion data are not received from other states.

Address comments, questions and requests for paper copies or CDs to:

Thaer Baroud, MHSA, MA

Arkansas Department of Health

Center for Health Statistics - Slot 19

4815 West Markham Street

Little Rock, Arkansas 72205-3867

Phone: (501) 280-4812 Fax: (501) 661-2544

E-Mail: tbaroud@healthyarkansas.com

This publication, along with others published by the Center for Health Statistics, is available on the Internet at: http://www.healthyarkansas.com/stats/data/data.html