Travel times to delivery services for AR moms; summer heat increases risk of hot car deaths

Today is the first day of summer, a good time to remind parents and caregivers that leaving a child in a hot vehicle is extremely dangerous. On an 80-degree day, the interior of a car can reach 99 degrees in just 10 minutes, and it can reach 123 degrees after an hour. ACHI Policy Analyst Elizabeth Montgomery has more on our blog, including tips for parents such as:

• Put your cell phone, bag, or purse in the back seat, so you check the back seat when you arrive at your destination.
• If someone else is driving your child, always check to make sure the child has arrived safely.
• Remind children that cars, especially trunks, should not be used for games such as hide-and-seek.

Maternal Health

One factor that can impact health outcomes for mothers and infants is the amount of time necessary to travel for labor and delivery services. We analyzed Arkansas mothers’ travel times to delivery facilities and found that median travel times vary greatly depending on where mothers live. We also found that travel times have increased for mothers in some parts of the state following closures of labor and delivery services at hospitals. For mothers who live in Phillips County, for example, the median travel time to delivery facilities in 2016 was 6 minutes, but in 2022, following the closure in 2020 of the labor and delivery unit at Helena Regional Medical Center, the median travel time for Phillips County moms was 51 minutes. See more findings in our new infographic.

For more resources related to maternal and infant health in Arkansas, visit our topic page.

Delta Innovator Search

This week marks the launch of the inaugural Delta Innovator Search, which aims to identify entrepreneurs, scientists, agricultural leaders, and other innovators with new solutions that have the potential to transform the economy of the Mississippi Delta region and contribute to better health outcomes for its residents. The Rural Innovation Alliance, an initiative led by ACHI and several other organizations in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, is conducting the search with funding from the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines program. The alliance will accept applications through July 30.

Youth Mental Health

In an opinion piece published Monday in The New York Times, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms, similar to those required on tobacco products, stating that social media use is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. One way parents can protect their children is to use the parental controls for social media on mobile devices. We created a video guide explaining how to use the controls.

Additional resources related to social media and youth mental health are available on our topic page.

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Dr. Joe Thompson, ACHI president and CEO