Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-09-11
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY
COUNCIL LAST EVENING

Sion OF the 1917 state legislature.
These laboratories are to receive finan-
cial aid of the state, and though
doing municipal work to large ex-
tent are also expected to diagnose
| sp acimens received from adjacent
towns and villages to the city in which
the laboratory has been placed.
Wausau now has the opportunity to
possess one of these laboratories. 1t
is an efficient and proved disease pre-
Venter, and in every community in
which it has been placed has enabled
the prevention of many possible cpl
denies and has improved the general
health of the people of the vicinity
by diagnosing various diseases quick
ly and accurately where this has for
merly been impossible.
The city council of this city in SEES
sion last evening, was addressed by
DR.. c. A. Harper of the State Board
of Health. DR.. Harpers address in
formed clearly what the uses of such
laboratory are and also what ex-
pense there is to be met by the mu-
nicipality in which one is placed.
A resolution of the state legisla-
ture recently provided that $4,000
should be turned over to the state
board of health for the purpose of
establishing branch or cooperative
laboratories of hygiene in various
parts of the state, not to exceed seven
in number. The state board has al
ready decided that six are sufficient
for the needs of the present. Several
of those have already been located
one at Kenosha, another at Fond du
Lac, and the third at Superior, none
of which have been in operation
through more than an experimentary
period. Each one of the cooperative
laboratories is to be recompensed by
the state at $1,000 a year, payments
to be made monthly, and the munich
pality is to provide whatever funds
may be necessary to carry on the work
of such laboratory. 1t is DESTROYS to
make one or another of the six lab
oratories convenient to all citizens of
the state and to that end the state
board is very carefully selecting cities
in which a location seems desirable
These laboratories are open for the
use of all citizens of the state free of
charge, though they are most gener-
ally used only by the citizens of the
vicinity in which they are located.
In speaking of Wausau as a posi-
Bile location, DR.. Harper said: "Wau-
sau is a city we'll located and we'll
equipped. Wausau's reputation among
those who live outside is that of
city which pulls together. Wausau is
an ideal city for laboratory of this
nature"
'"The question is whether Wausau
wishes to have a cooperative branch
of the state laboratory, receive $1,000
from the state in monthly payments
and meet the needs of the municipality
and vicinity"
DR.. Harper also explained of what
the work of the laboratory consists.
Frequent examination of water is
made to determine it's purity. Ere
quent examinations of milk are made
| to see that it is clean and safe for
consumption. Blood tests are made,
| and cases of typhoid and para-typhoio
are Immediately recognizable if they
exist. Sputum is examined micro
scopically to determine cases of diph-
| iberia. Tissue examinations are also
made by which the existence of can
Ger and tumors is recognized There
is much other work which the lab
| oratory does.
This gives a slight idea of what a
benefit hygienic laboratories are.
| In Kenosha it is claimed that $50
deaths year have been prevented by
| the work of the laboratory located in
that city. The death rate stands now
at II to Is per thousand. That alone
is an enormous saving.
| The question of the expense of such
| laboratory was another phase taken
| up by DR.. Harper during his talk
| In Superior, DR.. Harper stated the
man in charge of the laboratory has
been paid $500, and in addition there
is full time health officer. This
latter is a requirement of the state,
else the laboratory chief, instead of
merely being a laboratory man eff
Gent in that work, must also be a
graduated physician. Superior also
furnishes room in the city hall. No
fear need be felt over having the lab
oratory located in such a building as
the city hail. The cost of the equip
ment for the laboratory is not large
item. 1t amounts to from $500 to
$1,000. However, this equipment is
permanent. The cost of maintenance,
he said, was small.
DR.. Stovall of the state laboratory
of hygiene, Madison, followed DR.
Harper with short talk in which
he further explained the work of the
laboratory and in which he also spoke
of the expense of maintenance. The
maintaining of such laboratory, he
estimates, should not exceed $3.50 tc
$500 per year, depending, of course
on the number of diagnoses, which is
bound to increase as the laboratory
extends its work. DIR. StovaIl urged
the location of the laboratory here, be
lieving it to be absolutely essentia
to the efficient practice of medicin,
and the prevention of disease in an,
city.
: Following the session of the coun
Gil the mayor and the committee OF