Results were mixed with Sevier County doing better in some categories than its neighbors and the state and worse is others, but County Mayor Larry Waters said more work needed to be done.

For example, the county was rated better in the availability of adequate prenatal care than the state, but more needs to be done to insure the health of local mothers and their children.

Getting the word out about the importance of prenatal care is key, said Teresa Edens, a registered nurse who works in the Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center birthing center.

"What I initially see is two groups not getting adequate prenatal care are the Hispanic population and the teenage mothers," she said. "The biggest concern is just trying to get people in to see a doctor when they become pregnant."

Cultural and language barriers play a role, Edens said.Health Department Director Mickey Roberts told The Mountain Press in early 2006, about a survey of women in 16 East Tennessee counties about services such as prenatal care indicated that a portion of women only believed in going to the doctor when they were sick.

Sevier County also had the highest average child abuse rate, 7.8, of the four counties for the 2001-2003 time period; however, Waters said that child abuse prevention and advocacy measures have gained momentum in recent years with plans to build the Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center, a nonprofit organization that would serve children in the four counties that comprise Tennessee's 4th Judicial District.

One key to the success of Safe Harbor is fulfilling the need for volunteers. Anyone interested can contact Koester at 453-2638 or e-mail to DonnaKoester@charter.net. Safe Harbor's Web site is www.SafeHarborCAC.com.

When it comes to education, Sevier County had the highest drop-out rate, 1.8 per thousand, for 2003 of its neighbors, but is well below the state rate of 3.0.

Debra Cline, the director of curriculum and instruction for Sevier County Schools, said the county system is working hard to keep students in school.

"We're doing a lot of things at the high school level to provide support programs for students who might be at risk," she said. "For example, we have implemented Freshman Academies at Seymour and Sevier County High Schools. It's designed to provide support for students as they make the transition to high school and also give them some real adult contact in a meaningful way."

Cline attributed the low rate to an assertive discipline program to communicate behavioral expectations to students and making consequences of behavior meaningful to them.

Allen Newton, executive director of the Sevier County Economic Development Council, said the county has implemented long-term projects to help the children of the county.

The program, first offered in 2003, is funded by the governments of Sevier County, Gatlinburg, Sevierville and Pigeon Forge along with private donations. High school students from Sevier County with a 2.7 GPA can receive up to two years tuition at Walters State.

The Partners in Progress scholarship is a "last dollar" scholarship, meaning that it pays after all other financial aid sources - Pell grants, Walters State Foundation scholarships, Hope Lottery scholarships, etc. - have paid.

The Sevier First "smart card" project, designed to provide financial help for uninsured local residents, will also be beneficial to children in the community.

The card will operate like a debit card, accessing a $250-or-more balance provided by the recipient's employer to pay for health care at the Mountain Hope Good Shepherd Clinic in Sevierville.

"The family will be on the card, it would cover kids," Newton said. "What we tried to do was make it as inclusive as possible with what we can do."

In addition, the state of Tennessee is developing the planned CoverKids program to extend comprehensive health coverage to every uninsured child in Tennessee.

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