North Carolina Newspapers

/i The news in this publica- >n is releasee] for the press on ceipt. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA NEWS LETTER Published weekly by the University of North Carolina for its Bureau of Extension. BRUARY 11, 1920 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. . VOL. VI, NO. 12 (orial Board i K. C. Branson, f,. K. Wilson, E. W. Knight, D. D. Carroll ,1. B, Bullitt. Entered a.s second-class matter November 14, 1914, at the Postofl0.ee at Chapel HIU, N* C., under the act of August 24, 1912 - PEOGEESS IN PUBLIC HEALTH SURAL PUBLIC HEALTH WORK jocal public health machinery in rural as was tlie subject of a report render- to the American Country Life Assooia- :i in Chicago the other cay by K. 0. inson, committee chairman, and we reproducing it for our IS'ews Letter ders with the hope that it may effect- ly re-enforce the great work that is be- done in North Carolina by Dr. W. Rankin and the State Board of Health Scope of the Report rhe findings of your committee con- n the governmental machinery of pub health work among 44 million dwell in the open country of the United ,tes outside incorporated towns of iry sort and size, and 10 million vil e dwellers in towns of fewer than 2,500 labitants. Here, all told, are 54 mil- 1 people, or just about lialf our total lulation at present. These people are :le and apart from the centers of biisi IS activity and social enterprise. Re- te and aloof, they were hard to reach vn to the last household in our liberty id, war stamp, and war benevolence | ves. They are just as hard to reach , h public health literature and to .use to self-pro*ective activity in be- | f of disease-prevention and health- ; miotion. ?he instinct of self-preservation is fee- in individuals, except on the lower els and in dramatic situations of sud■■ : 1 peril fo life and limb; it is even bier in the collective personalities led cities, as most of us have learned the struggle to persuade boards of al- i ■men to invest in adequate public. ilth machinery; it is almost iioii-exis- j t, as a local civic asset, among the sis, and definitely announce their pro jects to the public. 2. Regional Diagnosis (tenters, General Clinics, and Dispensaries. Such centers ought to be established in steadily in creasing number in every state, and their location determined by the necessities of remote rural regions. The investment and operating expense ought to be a charge upon the state treasury, supple mented by the funds of such federal bu reaus and volunteer organizations as find these centers useful in reaching the dis abled constituencies tliey are created to serve. The lack of such centers at pres ent leaveti our rural populations at the mercy of clogging inveterate superstitions, quack doctors, and patent medicine vend ers. ' 3. Schools of every grade and type re ceiving state aid in any measure should ofTer instruction in hygiene and sanita tion, with lessons in first aid, bedside nursing, and sidr-room dietetics, adapted to classes of various ages and degrees of priqtaredness. A measureable command of these matters ought to be required for a license to teach in the public schools of the Lhiited States; otlierwise college, nor mal school, and summer school courses ill these subjects are likely to be offered in vain for long years to come. Credit courses must he used to create civic and social iiiiiidedness. The tciiools must hurry to capitalize popular interest in public health. Public health servants must be trained in whole; ale numbers, and rural coimniinities must be stirred into readiness for action, by intelligent local leaders in multiplied thousands. Public health instruction in the schools i.s foundational. The County-Unit Plan ! 4. The County Unit of Public Health iltitudes scattered tlironghont the vast, i,j forty-one states the county ui spaces of America. i unit of civil government. Just Tour committee has been charged with | isidering the hard end of public healt 1 education on a county-wide basis is rk namely, the public healtli machm- ; progress, so it liegius to ap- r that will effectively leach and ser\e j county as sncli is the (iroper s rural multitudes who can not will not take individual or collective behalf of themselves, their lion in mes, or their home communities. Ru- pnblic health like the rural public lool is a mired wheel at present in the lited States. Coimnittee Findings Effective public health work in rural ,'as seems to your committee to mean L. A Wate department of public health th authority to determine general pub- health policies, to broadcast popular lilie health literature, to estalfiish and lintain standards of public health ser- ;e, to snperviKe and direct all state and ;al health activities, agencie.s, and in- tutions whatsoever, and to serve within e state as a direct coordinating center r all extra state public health organiza ms and agencies, federal liealth bureaus well as national public liealth philan- ropies. 2. Regional diagnosis centers, general riics and dispensaries—enough to be territorial basis for local health organi zations operating as mediate agencies of state health board effort, and that on no other basis are we likely to reach and serve our country populations in public health work. And this is probably just as true in regions where the town or town ship is the real unit of political life as it is in areas -where the township is merely a geographic term with little or no signifi cance of economic, social, or civic sort. Effective public health work is expensive —too expensive for rural tax-payers or for dwellers iu fractional areas of rural counties. Our rural counties, it is well to remember, are four of every five on an average the country over; that is to say, in 2,350 of our 2,950 counties t-wo-thirds or more of tiie people dwell in the open coimtry and iu small towns and villages. The time has come to recognize this fun damental fact and to act upon it. The taxable wealth of an entire county is re quired to support public health work that is organized to reach all the people. It is not too much' to say that every dollar thin easy reach of the mi a popu ation | taxable wealth in every county ought to back health-promotion and disease- pievention in the richest town center and bjects of instruction in alUrades and , Bear ye one another’s burdens, and Every man sliall bear his own burden, are comple mentary Biblical truths. They are also complementary democratic doctrines. They mean local tax levies, re-enforced by state and federal aid and by private a state. 3. Hygiene and sanitation as required pps of schools receiving state aid These as a setting ami supporc for 4. A county-unit organization of puVilic lalt.h machinery under state liealth >ard guidance. Explanations in Brief CIVIC CONSTRUCTIVENESS In a recent book Frederick S. Lee has once more exhibited what is known about the working of the hu man machine and the little use that is made of that knowledge. We know perfectly well how to eradicate mala ria and yellow fever, yet these diseases still claim many victims. We know' that we could prevent half of all the deaths that occur every year, and yet they are not prevented. Thirty per cent of the blind people would see if only a few drops of an antiseptic so lution had been put into their eyes at birtli; but this very simple precaution is not yet in general use. The reasons lie in the fact that there is no effective program for the organization of man kind in health concerns, no effective agencies to study such a program, aiid little teaching in the field of social medicine. ' , We shall never reach the point ■where we really govern ourselves and master the world until the universi ties become civically constructive. We can already foresee the time when every school cf medicine will devote the greatest part of its activi ties to social medicine. By enlarging its aim and broadening its method, by dropping its academic and profes sional aloofness, medicine will become the center of community service.—Dr. Rene" Sand, Lecturer on Industrial and ■Social Medicine, University of Brus sels. their -wisdom conserved by bringing them together and having them assist in de termining the standards of local health work on the highest possible levels. In this way local taxpayers have an under standable basis upon which to compare costs and results in the various counties, to know how' their county ranks in pub lic health work among the counties of the state, and whether or not it is mov ing ahead or lagging behind—whether or not it is getting results or getting left. Such standards democratically determined are essential to the best efforts of local health officers and the largest possible support in local communities. THE CAROLINA PLAN A uniform system of health work, em braced in eight separate units covering all the activities of whole-time county health officers is recommended to the State Board of Health in the resolution prepared and adopted yesterday at the concluding session of the Co-operating County Health officers in Raleigh. The State Health Board will con sider the resolution at its meeting next Monday. There are at present 16 counties in the State that have the whole-time co-oper ative health officer and there are at present in the hands of the State, board applica tions from four additional counties for the whole-time service that will bring the number to within one of the authorized list of 20 counties. Applications are pend ing from Union, Harnett, Nash, and Vance counties. The co-operative service was establish ed three years ago and since that time the work has outgrown its original scope and in each county has developed along somew'hat independent lines. The object of the conference held yesterday was to unify the work and place it upon a more sound and efficient basis. Each of the 16 counties at present supporting the | work was represented at the conference. Eight Units Recommended The following units of work are recoin mended in the resolution: Educational Unit: To educate the peo ple of the county as to the prevalence of preventable diseases, the possibilities of health improvement and the means of di sease prevention and health promotion. Quarantine Unit: To work in co-oper ation with legal agencies of the State, vis it schools and homes when necessary to establish measures of control. Soil Pollution Unit: To collect data on the prevalence of disease from soil pollu tion, give treatment when necessary, teach the necessity and importance of providing sanitary privies. Life Extension Unit; For the physical examination of adults by appointment. Tnis work will follow closely the work now being done by the Life Extension Institute. School Unit; To conduct medical iu- with clerical help, laboratories, and as- j spection of school children and supervise sistants in. the la.^-gest measure possible. | the physical examination of public school He should be elected by the county board i teachers, of health, the county boatd of finance, establishing one; the people are think ing about other things. The state has a successful sanitarium, but it is little more than a demonstration of what can be done, so limited are its facilities. In one way, it looks as if a state is greatly crim inal if it finds out that a thing can be done and then does not do it. For years this has been notoriously the case as to treatment of the insane; now it is so in tuberculosis work, and in conservation of citizenship through training of delin quent youth. Still, when you take the long view, you find that in all these enterprises of con servation, progress is made. The faddists of the world waste effort and energy in foolish, futile enterpiises; but all along real progress is accomplished. So he is rash who denies that an actual, wholly efficient conservation of human life will be achieved. And it is possible that it might develop quickly; decade after dec ade might show increasing progress. Or it may be a development of centuries.— Greensboro Daily News. little county of 16,QUO inhabitants are some 160, and fhe deiUhs around 20 per year. Clearly the problem is too large (or one big sanitarium in any state. Tu berculosis is a county problem and it calls for county or county-group ho.spitals. Such ho.-^pitals are now required by law in New Jers.-y, New York and Massachu setts, and other states are moving ahead in tile same direction. County Health Machinery Oounty Public Health Machinery. Ef fective local public health work involve.H; 1. A county public health board, elect ed preferably by tfie county board of fi nance and the county board of education in joint session, and supported by a fund at least one-third of whxh is locally de rived, the balance coining from state, federal, and other outside agencies and organizations if possible. 2. A county health department, headed by a whole-time county health officer, 1. The State Department of Public j benevolence local and national. [ealtb. It appears to your committee j A. staie health board can function most ) be Ijoth possible and desirable that all; eflectively through county health machin- icalpublichealth work, regional, county, ' Bry. It is hard to see how it can other- iid municipal, be placed under the au-j wise reach individual farmsteads in sparse- loritative guidance of the state health , ly settled rural areas. In every detail— oard; and also that all outside public Q” health surveys, iu case work, in advice, ealth agencies and organizations operat- j supervision, care and cure—public health ag within a state function through the | bulks up too big tate board—this, in order to avoid, in and the county school board jointly, from a certified list furnished by tfie state boani of health. He should be answerable to the local health board and through it to the state health authorities. He should hold office without re-election daring good behavior ami effective service. He should have directive oversight of all lo- [for the prevention and cure cal public health agents and institutions losis, provide clinics, etc. in the county. He sliuuld be quariered with the County school superintendent or alongside him wich the veil between rent iu twain. 3. A: county-paid public health nurse. ' Infant Hygiene Unit: To have charge of tfie organization and instruction of mothers’ clubs, train.tliem in tlie care of infants, and standardize regulations for, midwives. Tuberculosis Unit; To exercise a care ful oversight over the disease in the county, conducting a general campaign of tiibercu- CALDWELL FARMERS ACTIVE Caldwell farmers are becoming more and more interested in local water power development, lights and other power con veniences on the farm. Already farmers in the county are taking advantage of the offer made by the University of North Carolina tlirough the bureau of extensioa to investigate any water-power site and advise as to the cost of development and installation of lights, farm machinery and other conveniences. Mr. D. C. Flowers, who lives out is the Little River Section, is the first farm er in the county to take advantage of the oiler of the University, and last week Mr. W. 0. Walkeof the State Highway Com mission, working in collaboration with the University bureau of extension, wa* here from Chapel Hill to go over the proposition with Mr. Flowers and make estimates of the probable cost for his de velopment. Within the next few days Mr. "Walke plans to return to Lenoir and go over a small water-power site for Mr. John B. titeele in the Valley. In both cases Air. \\ alke will figure out the probable cost necessary for the development of the waterpower and then the cost of all installations, including lighting for home and farm houses and lor needed farm machinery and other conveniences. This service comes free. There is n« charge whatever. This work is made possible through an act of tlie general as sembly of 1917, which provides for the bureau of farm-home comforts and con veniences, which baa been inaugurated by the University bureau of extension. Its purpose is to aid iu the upbuilding of farm communities through tlie develop ment of small w'ater powers to furnish current for the needed conveniences oh tUe farms. Mr. C. W. Warlick of this place has been instrumental in stirring tlie present interest in the development of the small water pow'irs, and it was through his work tliat Alr.Walke was sent to Caldwell.— Lenoir News-Topic. Health Officer’s Staff In each county there will be a whole time health officer, a trained nurse, a ru ral sanitary inspector and an office assis- lilton’s phrase, confusion worse confoun- ed, which being translated means con- aunded confusion. This finding pre- upposea the willingneas of public health irganizations, local, state, and national, 0 federate their aims, to concentrate heir funds, and to operate through a ingle responsible state agency in com- ortable comradeship. If it connot be 0, it Indicates a sad lack of self effacing- less among Good Samaritiyas along the toad to .lericho. Pending such a federa- :ion,|iHtional organizations should place iheir public health work on a project ba- for centralized author ities, agencies, and institutions. And this is true in urban and rural areas alike. Public health is fundamentally a local problem, and at last it must be in largest part a local responsibility. Consider tu berculosis, for instance. The country over, the open pronounced tubercular cases of all sorts are around ten per thousand in habitants; whicli means 25,000 cases in a state of two and a half million people. It is hardly thinkable that a state sanita rium with a few hundred beds can be eitiier a diagnosis center or a curing sta tion for such a liost of stricken sufterers. On the other hand, the open cases in a one to start with and mure just as rapid- ; f8.rit. The salary of the health ly as supporting funds can be found. She . should be chosen by the county health j officer from the certified list of the state i board, to whom slie is finaliy responsible | through the county hearlth officer. j 4, A county tuberculosis hospital, in t every county wliere the annual taxes state and local are $100,000 or more, under permissive legislation, by a major ity vote of the voters voting. In areas where county populations are small and taxable properties meager, county-group hospitals should be established. In short, a county health organization sliould develop a robust sense of local re-k sponsibility for local health problems. It should be removed as far as possible from local partisan politics and at the same time allow the largest possible measure of local democratic participation consist ent with effectiveness. To this end, the initiative of local health authorities ought to be respected and officer is fixed for the first year at $2,400 and $2,700 for the second year with $600 for travel expenses. The nurse will receive, including travel expenses, $2,100, the sanitary inspector, including travel, $1,500 and the office assistant $600 per year. Of the total budget of $8,000 the county will appropriate $4,000 in addition to providing office room and equipment. This amount is supplemented by $1,000 by the State Board of Health, a like amount from the International Health Board, a branch of the Rockefeller Foun dation, and $1,800 is allotted by the American Red Cross.—News and Observ er. TALKING IN GUILFORD We have for years been talking here in Guilford about a tuberculosis sanitarium, but apparently there is no intention of FINE SENSE IN CHATHAM Sheriff Lane down in (.fiiatham is mail ing out a little card that shows at a glance the total of each taxpayer’s taxes and just what each taxpayer’s dollar pays for, as follows; Roll Tax S3.20 State Tax $ .15 2-3 Comity 19 School 67 S[)ecial 17 Bridge 06 Road 10 ' $1,34 2-3 Special Road Levy Center, Haw River, Cape Fear and Bear Creek Townships. 50c Property. $1.50 Poll. Matthews and Gulf Townships. 40c Projierty. $1.20 Poll. Oakland Township. 60c Property. $1.80 Poll. Special School Levy Carbonton, Bonlee, Goldston, Gun* Springs, Holly Oaks, Merry Oaks, Pitts- boro, Silk Hope, Grove, Olive’s Chapel. 30c Property. 90c Poll. Bynum, Chestnut Hill, Eastern Acade my, Gulf, Ore Hill, White Oak. 25c Property. 75c Poll. Hank’s Chapel, Moncure, Cotton, O’Connell. 20c Property. 60c Poll. Bonsai. 40c Property. $1.20 Poll. Bennett. 50c Property. $1.50 Poll. Goldston, Moncure (for bonds). 30c Property. 90c Poll. Bonlee (for bonds). 15c Property. 45c Poll. In townships having special road tax deduct the regular 10c, and in Baldwin Township add 10c to the regular 10c. Write Sheriff Lane for a copy of his card.