A high rate of sexually transmitted infections isn’t just a health problem. It’s also bad news for the local economy. That’s according to Kalamazoo County’s new public health director Jim Rutherford, who started the job at the end of December.
Rutherford, who previously led Calhoun County's health department, says Kalamazoo County has reason to be worried about its STI numbers. According to the county's data, Kalamazoo has the state’s second-highest rate of gonorrhea and chlamydia infections in Michigan.
He says companies check a community’s STI numbers when deciding where to locate, along with the teen pregnancy rate and infant mortality.
"Because basically these indicators are you know, kind of a picture as to how well, how healthy is this community, how healthy is this workforce. So it behooves all of us to think about these indicators," he says.
While the STI statistics concern Rutherford, Kalamazoo has an even greater problem in its racially disparate infant mortality rate. The numbers show that African-American babies die at a rate several times higher than that for white babies in Kalamazoo County.
Rutherford spoke with WMUK's WestSouthwest about how the health department is working with a number of community groups toward ending that disparity. He also discussed the STI issue, the uncertain future of the Affordable Care Act and the impact it has on local social services, and the health department's planned move from the old Nazareth College Campus to the former Illinois Envelope building on Alcott Street next year.
