The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1911-03-02
Work of Visiting Nurse
Shows Laxity Of City in En-
forcing Health Laws
NO CARE OF INFECTED HOUSES
Report of Nurse Shows That Tubercu-
losis Has Been Implanted in Many
Families as a Result of Carelessless
in Enforcing Lava


Miss Sarah Ryder, visiting nurse OF
the Wisconsin Anti tuberculosis com
mittee who has been at work in Ken
osha for the past month told the story
of her labors at a public meeting held
at the First Congregational church on
Sunday evening and it was one OF the
most interesting stories ever told to a
Kenosha audience. 1t revealed the fact
that the one burning need of Kenosha
was health department, efficient and
militant ready to do its full duty I'M
der the laws Of the state for the pre-
vention of the spread of infectious dis
eases. The address by Miss Ryder was
powerful arraignment of conditions
in Kenosha and it came from one hav-
ing authority for in the past month
she had personally seen every condl-
ton which she described. Her story of
the conditions among some Of the for
eigners of the city, largely due to the
laxity of the board of health amounted
almost to an indictment of the health
officials of the city for criminal care
lessness. She showed that in the homes
of foreigners tuberculosis has spread
rapidly and that family after family
had been infected with the disease on
account of the failure of the health Of
icials Of the city to insist on fumiga-
ton of these houses after the people
who had lived in them had died from
consumption in it's various forms. 1t
was story of squalor and poverty, of
ignorance and neglect but through it
all was the neglect on the part of the
city most apparent.
She told of dying women and child
rem who were too far advanced in dis
ease for her to save but the death beds
Of these people are to be made little
more comfortable by the awakening of
the public conscience and it is believed
that the death of these people will
bring about better condition. Eight
families were discussed by Miss Ryder
and she showed that all of them had
become infected and members Of the
families had died on account of lack
Of fumigation and sanitary conditions.
Most of these families are living with
in stones throw of the business dis
tricts of the city. Miss Ryder dis
cussed the question of the poor and
their necessities and showed that it
was harder for them to combat infec-
ton than the people in more opulent
circumstances and for this reason she
pleaded that the city be shown the
necessity of having it's officials give to
this class of people the protection ne
cessary to insure them health and a
chance to earn sufficient for their sup
port. In speaking of the lack Of the
city of Kenosha of proper methods to
care for the health of the people Of
the city Miss Ryder said:
"Kenosha is unfortunate in not hav-
ing good health ordinance, yet, what
she lacks, the state law supplies. How
ever, she should have her own ordin-
ance modelled upon the state law, and
this Improvement will come about
largely through evolution, fastened, let
us hope, by public opinion. Kenosha,
like every other city of her size which
has developed rapidly within few
years, suddenly finds herself in the en-
barrassing position Of young girl who
has youtgroWn her clothes. Nothing fits,
and there is usually a scramble to
lengthen skirts and let out bands, some
times no amount of fixing will make
the old clothes do, so they must be
cast aside and an entire new wardrobe
provided. Thus is it with your health
ordinance. When it was passed in 1883
it met very well the then village con
ditions, but it has been outgrown and
no longer meets the requirements of a
city of $4,000 inhabitants, with it's
many factories which bring with them
a large foreign population many of
whom are ignorant of hygienic and
sanitary measures, and from which are
recruited most Of the working force.
Your health ordinance is antique. Tt
did well enough when Asiatic cholera
was travelling over Europe leaving a
trail of death behind it, when Cuba
and the south were in imminent peril
from yellow fever, because of neglect
of the simplest sanitary precautions,
and when quarantine regulations at
ports Of entry were not so strictly en-
forced as now. 1t was then necessary
to pass measures Of protection against
such scourges, but, with stricter quar-
antine regulations, and modern meth
DDS of sanitation everywhere, the pos
sibility of contracting these diseases
is considerably lessened, especially in
this section of the country. While your
ordinance provides expressly for the
abatement of small pox, yellow fever
and cholera, it says not one word as