The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-01-30
WASTE Of ENERGY
BYPREsENTsYsJEM
Several Health Agencies at
Work Destroy Portion
of Effectiveness.
WANT SINGLE HEAD
FOR STATES WORK
Proposes Supervision Over
Public Health Laboratory
and Ladd's Work.

Public Health Laboratory
and Ladd's Work.
That tho present organization of
the board of health is u misfit as an.
nticabie to present conditions. and
th;tt the state is wasting considerable
energy by reason of the present sys-
TEN of handling health questions, is
the contention IF the state board. In
inc current bulletin of the hoard of
heilth these points arc raised.
Need Ills Entire Time.
Tho bulletin says:
INC present organization of the
state board of healtl, can hardly be
accepted as being In. line with modern
IDEAS. Wc.t"ok over at statehood the
old territorial health laws. These
We're probably applicable to conditions
existing ut that time. but sanitary SCI
cncc has made such progress in these
later a that they are now very
much of a ,mistit. We have at present
practically Il II man board. The
superintendent Of public health is it's
secretary and executive officer and the
only u receiving any salary-an in
sufficient amount. This necessitates a
division of his energies between official
work and private business. an exceed
ingly unsatisfactory Arrangement as
far as the good of the public is con-
ccrned. Instead of an executive Of
nccr at an inadequate salary we
should have one with a sufficient in
come to insure his whole time being
devoted to the service and consequent
lN responsible for the work perform
We have in our state the peculiar
condition Of public health activities
in that it is comprised under three
main divisions:
1. Pure food department at the
agricultural college.
:. Public health laboratory at the
university.
.. State board of health.
Waste of Energy.
These arc all working independently
and as a matter of fact their work
oNerlaps. TO conserve the energies OF
these various agencies and to bring
them into closer relationship, VIC
board of health in which those sep
arate departments would be duly rep
resented. A state board of health that
would till the bill for North Dakota
conditions might be roughly outlined
as follows:
The board shall consist of five
members majority of which shall
constitute a quorum for the transac-
ton of business. Tho trustees of the
agricultural college shall annually APP
point one member. the trustees of the
state university shall annually aplpoint
one member and the governor shall
appoint three members. who shall he
legally qualified practitioners OF medi-
cine and surgery in North Dakota; one
for n Year. one for two years and
II for three years. Thereafter their
terms of office shall be three Years.
Zach member shall servo until his sue
~cessor qualities. Vacancies shall be
filled by like appointments. The board
shall hold an annual meeting on....
at which time it shall elect from it's
members. a president md vice presi-
dent and shall at the same meeting
elect an executive officer who shall be
it's pleasure subject to removal by u
majority of the board at regular meet
ing. Hc may or may not he elected
from the membership of the board. If
not elected from the membership of
the board the member appointed by
the governor having the shortest UNI
expired term shall cease to be Il men,
Der. The executive officer SO appoint
eel shall be d medical man trained in
sanitary science and legally qualified
to practice medicine and surgery in
North Dakota and he shall be cxx-of-
ficio Il member of the board"
Would BE Representative.
\ board organized along this limo
would be representative. nearly non-
partisan and efficient. With such a
board. meeting at regular intervals
and discussing the various sanitary
problems of the state. the health of
our people would. be conserved to a
degree that would appear at first
that an annual appropriation of S10.-
600 would meet all the requirements
and place such health department on
a plane of usefulness second to none
iii the United States. 1t would be
necessary to rcorganizc tho local
boards of health--county, city, village
and township-to conform to this
plan. so that there would be no clash
ing OF jurisdiction as at present but
that all would work I'm unison and
harmony for the common good.
Visiting Nurse.
The visiting nurse is an evolution
Of modern conditions. 1t is only dur
ing the past few years that she has
come to the front as an active factor
in progressive public health work. She
first gained Il standing in cities where
~ " ~ ltGlSt W kItc SuIl.
sideratiOn of health officials. So We'll
has she acted her part that she is
now looked upon rs IL necessary fac
tor in every Well organized city health
department. Ii was found. however.
that her sphere of usefulness was not
confined to the city. but that on the
contrary the country offered an equal
~ good field for her activities. In
diseases like tuberculosis. found in
every walk of life. where SO much de-
ponds on the adoption of right meth
DDS of living a well trained and ca
pable nurse going into the homes can.
by kindly words of counsel and adj
monition. do very much towards pre-
venting further spread of the disease
and relieving those already affected.
AS an educatiye factor In public health
work she reaches an element that is
In tho greatest need Of instruction and
at the same time is. the hardest to
reach through the ordinary channels.
Entering Il community she at once
gets in touch with those needing as
sistance and before long a record of
her work makes the nucleus of a So
cial survey thai becomes of the great
est service in matters that have to do
with the bcttcrment Of society.
Legislation that would permit
boards of county commissioners to
employ visiting nurses in their several
counties. to prevent the spread of
tuberculosis and other communicable
disooSes and tn omnOwer them fO an.