Project researches infant deaths

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer | Monday, July 17, 2006

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As a way to increase the survival rate of all babies born in South Dakota, the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen's Health Board has joined with the Yankton Sioux Tribe and South Dakota State Department of Health to address health concerns during pregnancy and at birth.

Jacqueline Left Hand Bull, administrative officer of the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen's Health Board, said the Yankton Sioux Tribe will head the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitor System, a three-year, $375,000 project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The tribal health board will manage the project, she said.

The state and all tribes will use the pregnancy-risk survey to identify the specific risks during pregnancy and the effects they have on the pregnancy's outcome, she said.

"Previously, only state health departments were eligible to conduct these programs," Left Hand Bull said.

The South Dakota Tribal PRAMS also is the first infant-monitoring project awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for a tribe to supervise. Christine Rinki of the tribal health board will act as director and develop the project, she said.

"South Dakota has a high infant-mortality rate, and it is raised by the American Indian population," Left Hand Bull said.

"We don't know the factors that affect infant mortality, and this project can help," she said.

According to South Dakota Department of Health news release, South Dakota saw an increase in infant-mortality rates with 8.2 deaths occurring to infants younger than 1 year old per 1,000 live births in 2004. That is well above the U.S. infant mortality rate of 6.6, Doneen Hollingsworth, South Dakota secretary of Health, said in the written release.

Hollingsworth said there is disparity by race with the infant-mortality rate for American Indians - which is double that of the general population - with 13.3 deaths occurring per 1,000 live births.

"It's significant," she said in the release.

Carol Anne Heart, executive director of the Aberdeen tribal health board, said she was excited about the new project.

"We will work with all the reservations in South Dakota," Heart said.

Used in hospital and health systems in Nebraska, she said, each new mother will take the survey after delivery of her baby.

Through information gathered from the survey, health-care professionals can determine if the mother had access to prenatal care during her pregnancy and federal nutrition programs, as well as whether she worked, lived in adequate housing, suffered from chronic illness or smoked.

Heart said the information from the surveys will be compiled and compared, showing health-care organizations and groups where clinical services and medical support are needed and what health areas should be addressed.

"We will come up with a report for the tribes and the state about the risks from the ongoing results of the monitoring system. The reports will be tribal specific," Heart said.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com