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                                 INTRODUCTION

The 2001 Hometown Health Factbook is a compilation of health care and other
indicators using the most recent data available, grouped by county and public 
health region.Most of the data in this book are presented, sometimes in greater
detail, in other publications of the Arkansas Center for Health Statistics, but
they are assembled here geographically for the convenience of elected officials,
researchers, health policy makers, health-care providers, grant writers and
those in health-related businesses.

The health care delivery system is a grassroots system. It is at the local
level--the community and the county--where the greatest share of services are
delivered.Data are presented for the 75 counties, for the state as a whole, and
for the Arkansas Department of Health's five public health regions. At each level 
the report has the same four-page format: three pages of tabular data plus a pair
of maps at the county level.

Each county and public health region module presents data including:

*      A demographic breakdown by age, gender and race.

*      Population density and distribution. The prevalence of poverty and of poverty
       among children.
       Prevalence of insurance, unemployment rate, per capita income, and medicaid
       eligible people,TEA average caseload and WIC caseload.

*      Fertility statistics, including number, prevalence and county rank of live
       births, low birth weight births, births to adolescents and lack of first
       trimester prenatal care.

*      Morbidity statistics, including incidences of vaccine preventable diseases,
       tuberculosis, AIDS/HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

*      Mortality statistics including infant mortality, heart disease, cardiovascular
       disease, cancer, stroke, motor vehicle accidents, work-related injury deaths,
       suicides and homicides.

*      The numbers of physicians, chiropractors, dental, optometry, social work and
       nursing professionals in each county and area are provided, as well as a listing
       of Community Health Centers, local health  units, and other medical facilities,
       as well as identifying emergency medical services.

*      The book also identifies medically underserved areas and areas where there are
       shortages of various health professionals.

There may be well over 800 separate items of information reported for any of the 81
geographic areas represented in this report. The data come from many sources, variously
collected at different times under disparate circumstances. In order to meet the needs
of health planners and market researchers, every effort has been made to provide accurate
and complete information.



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

If you have suggestions regarding information to be presented in future reports or
are able to provide more current data, please contact:

Christian Harrison
Arkansas Center for Health Statistics
4815 West Markham Street, Slot 19
Little Rock, AR 72205-3867
(501) 280-4067
E-Mail: charrison@healthyarkansas.com


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