The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-02
Isor sorne yesas.rs....passt the aubjeet oe

For some years past the subject of preventfon or sI1adneas has appear ed. Frequently upon the program of med icaI meetings and conferences Of health officers, nurses and social workers. The sta tenenf is made and reiterated that more than a quarter of the blind children in the schools for the blind In this country are sightless because their eyes were ne- g1eeted at or soon after birth--the accoucHeur neglected to use the pro 70 lactfc ia silver. solufion9 so we'll known to the medical profession, or the needed medical care for the ba- b5ss sore eyes was not given.
 Tlae familiar statement that oph- thalnlia neonatorun1c capable of causing lifelong Blindness Is both spreventaRle and curable, is so gener- ally accepted today as to be almost axIonatie Almost each year there IS written ou the statute books of some state law which is designed to safeguard the eyes of babies.
 Sad Froeession of Blind Tables
 And yet the percentage of oph- taalmia neonatorum victims admit ted to the schools for the blind year after year varies but slightly, and we are 4orced to admit with no little schagrin that scarcely more than g scratch has been made on the crust
 
 If the sad processionso little blind children, with state institutions as their goal. is to be Eliminated, some thing more definite and practical will have to be done than the enact naent of laws which only become dead letters and the making of speeches and reading of papers be- fore selected audiences
 BnquestiDnabIy, the first step is the enactment of laws providing for the compulsory reporting to local health officers of all cases of babies sore eyes This would make possible the pro- vision of medical attention for all un- cared for cases.
 But we find upon making survey of the laws that more than half of the states. 301 do require that epE- thaInia neonatoruln be reported Why then are the babies still going blind Because, excepting in a very few communities the law is neither 5obeyed nor enforced, nor is any off, ciaI action taken with information unan an occasional case doAssfind it's way to the health department.
 What Is Needed
 The filing Of report is valuable piece of official machinery capable of naeeting the needs of the individual baby. At the present time the faciIi- ties sats the disposal Of the average health officer for giving efficient as sistance to the physician of the nlid- wife. is so limited as to be practically wi tnout value.
 Each local health department needs in it's employ a nurse to visit each midwife case and to secure such scare as is necessary. and also to give Visiting nursing assistance to those doctors who wish it. And in addi- stion to this there should be eye clirl- ics and hospital facilities so that, without an hours delay, an infected Sbaby and It's mother may be admitted and the work of saving it's sight be- gun at once.
 The value of some such practical work as outlined above has been denonstrated in a number of cities, notably Boston Cleveland, and Nash yiIle somewhat more detailed system is under way in Buffalo where Health Commissioner Fronczak noti- fled each physician in that city that:
 1.-BabIes sore eyes was a report able disease.
 2.-t was his inteneion to prose cute doctors and midwfves alike who were found disregarding this legal requirement..
 3.As his sole purpose in taking this attitude was to safegu uard the eyea of babies, hs would give as