The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-10-09
COUNCIL oF DEFENSE NOTES
The Grave Menace to The Public
Health by Thinning Of The Ranks
OF Our Local Physicians and Train
ed Nurses.

| The following editorial in The Co
lumbia Record is worthy Of being
carefully read and considered by ey-
! cry intelligent reader Of this paper.
! Regarding the peculiar importance
! at this time and throughout the wa,
of educating the masses of the people
how to avoid or prevent contracting
| and spreading communicable dis
eases, by the cooperation Of the
State, and the reference to the ne
| ing held in every county. community
town, and city, it might be said III
passing that Sumter county has an
exceptional opportunity Of securing
! hundreds of these public health in
stitutes in every community in this
county, and we have on top Of this
opportunity an offer of five thousand
dollars from outside sources, the
State and national government, for I:
campaign of education if we will only
put up one-third Of the cost, or two
| thousand and five hundred dollars:
Hundreds of communities in South
Carolina are without practicing ply
sicians and trained nurses many
communities in Sumter county being
in similar predicaments. Sumter
county's physicians are being rapidly
taken away, and more will yet go. The
few remaining will be so much in de-
nand as time goes on that it will be
practically impossible for few to dc
the work heretofore done by more
than dozen physicians. and of the
few who remain considerable of thei,
time is being taken up and more OF
their time will be consumed working
for the government on local exemp-
ton and State exemption boards.
Our trained nurses are patriotically
responding to the call of their country
and their State Therefore any move
ment whereby thousands Of people,
many without nope Of medical prac-
-itioners' asst tance Or trained nurse
MAY be taught how to prevent con
lracting and spreading communicable
disease will be extra ordinarily cheap
~ two thousand and five hundred dol
lars.
National and State governments ane
in many counties (other than Sumter
county, it is sad to relate). the au-
thorities are unusually interested a
this time in educating people abou;
how to protect the public health.
The educated people Of the rura;
districts and city also are waking up
to the danger confronting them in
the near future from two sources
first. the absence Of physicians
and trained nurses; secondly, the
menace from deplorable ignorance OF
the masses of the people regarding
even the elementary principles o.
personal and public hygiene, the lat
ter meaning more communicable dis
eases among the educated and well
to do because disease and death are
no respectors Of persons or social en-
vironment
Dozens of the most intelligent an0
prosperous Of the rural citizens, and
OF the cities and towns also, who
have been heretofore Indifferent, now
fully realize that the immediate fu-
ture holds forth dual danger to the
educated and the we'll to do in the
menace of uncontrolled cases OF
communicable diseases among the
poor and ignorant, and which Sc
rious outbreaks or epidemics, for I,
while at least, absolutely uncontroll
ed by the advice, timely diagnosis and
report of these diseases for quar-
antine and control mean that even
those who know how to protect them
selves in ordinary times will be in eX
traordinary danger from unreporteo
cases of infectious and contagious
diseases. Your child at school here
tofore has been comparatively safe
because the vital statistics laws re-
quire attending physicians to report
communicable diseases, and chill
dren from infected houses have beer
promptly stopped from school unit
the attending physician certifles thai
all danger of contagion has passed
and the infected premises disinfect-
ed and quarantine released.
But now there will be many homes
without physicians where there are
cases of communicable diseases which
will not be reported for d time at
least, to the school teachers by the
parents of children from infected
homes because many homes will be
ignorant of the importance of re-
porting these communicable diseases
others will be Indifferent, and not a
few parents will not care whether
other parents children are infected
or not. Then there are the inevitable
many who never believe that COM
municable diseases are contagious
and the opportunity for infectious
diseases from infected homes to en-
ter the schools, Sunday schools
churches, and moving picture the
atres, and other places where people
congregate will be many times great
er than when we have an ample sup
ply of physicians who usually con-
troll diseases and protect the public
health by their professional skill anc
public spirit, their prompt diagnosis
report and quarantine Of con1munl-
| cable diseases.
We might just as we'll look the mat
ter square in the face. Our public
health is being menaced more anc