The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1916-05-09
Many Children Grip
pied Because of Neg
lect, Says DR.. Price
HOUSING PROBLEM
is VERY SERIOUS
Health Officer Urges
Cooperation In Ad-
dress to Doctors

Il GNA ~" NhC 10y -
defects OF their own children, Dr..
William II. Price, city health ofYlcer.
declared in an address before the
Wayne County Medical association.
Monday night. In its rooms AZ No.
| 80 High-st. east.
Seriously crippled because Of neg
lect. there are many children who
might have been saved had their AZ.
flctions been taken In time. he told
| the doctors. while the increase In
heart. kidney and arterial diseases.
the symptoms OF which are undetect-
ed my family physicians. rake the
business OF thoroughly inspecting the
school children 4 tremendous field.
Twenty per cent have defective eyes,
| seven per cent detective hearing.
| and many bad tonsils and sdenoids-
a nan OF 80 today has much mar
rover span of life ,ef- him than did
his grandfather at this age" assert
ed the health officer Stress %
present day I've makes many per
sons victims OF those diseases,
| which. IL taken In time might be
STAYED of"
The work OF visiting nurses was
| also touched on. and the same ele-
mental ignorance OF the laws OF per
sonai hygiene and diet was declared
TO have been disclosed here too.
Beer. sausage, coffee and cucum-
beers are not good for babies" he
said. but il was astonishing what a
large number of parents didn't know
this until the nurses told them
| As the simple result OF supplying
information of this sort. trained
nurse survey showed a great drop
In infant mortality.
Housing conditions in Detroit were
scored by DR.. Price on the basis Of
the Investigations OF the board oi
health. which he said showed thai
the residences that had once given
Detroit the name OF being a city oil
homes have developed into some oil
the most reeking tenements on the
continent
In houses designed for one fam
lily. there are many cases where
from two TO FIVE families are living
in an unbelievable state OF squalor,
he said I'm a single one-story cot.
tage that came under our obserya-
ton. a father In an advanced state
of tuberculosis was sleeping with
his wife and young child; boy OF
IL, a girl CT Is and a lad Of wers
sleeping in another bed, two other
children slept on the floor, while a
boarder occupied cot. Three
other families were housed In the
same place.
These are the conditions that
decrease the level OF Detroit's citi-
zenship and put a premium on tuber-
culosis and indecency. II is De-
troit's greatest problem, only TO be
met with housing law that can be
adequately enforced.
Introduced by DR.. r. A. McGraw,
chairman OF the public health com
mittee OF the association, who ap-
peaIed for strong cooperation be-
tween the physicians and the health
board, DR.. Price developed this In
PRODUCTION by saying that the same
attitude was necessary on the part
OF the general public. He declared
that the way 10 get adequate public
support for the work of public health
was to show the public that they ara
getting return of from 300 TO 500
per cent on the appropriation that
goes TO this purpose.
The cause OF public health 10 al.
lowed 10 interfere with personal lib
erty more than any other authority
be declared.
| In a preliminary talk on the so
Geological aspects ~ the science OF
preventive medicine. he said tina,
the ideals Of service Of the present
make physical fitness and efficiency
OF paramount importance