Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-07-08

health service of the State may get to
thoroughly understand the Martin
Idea" the delightful colonel himself
spends most of his time at Mount
Alto and Colonel Mclean is constantly
in attendance.
1T is the first time that 1t has ever
been thought possible to bring to-
gether all the health workers of the
State in order to give them an or
ganized vision of the ask that is be-
fore them. There is at the present
time about 600 workers in the
State Health Department. 1t is part
of the Martin plan to require these
5000 workers to enlist ten volunteers
in the new State health program
which will intimately mean a work.
ing corps OF 10000 workers to push
forward the propaganda.
"And you must meet Danny"
| Coogan. for If you stay only an hour
with the kidland of Noun Alto you
will find him the hero of these child
rem. Danny" Coogan was for fourteen
years with the Phillies and was one
of the most brilliant of all bal,
players in the major leagues. He
was for years the physical
director and baseball coach at Cor
nell and he was most recently the
man who put Governor Sproul into
fit trim for his executive duties.
Hero OF the Kids
Danny loves children and the child
rem love him. The sunshine n the
wonderful air of Mount Alto do their
part, to be sure, but the love of this
veteran of many a closely-played
baseball game puts the last and final
touch on the treatment. He puts
them through a series of setting up
exercises every day and he directs
their play program so that they will
get the maximum moun of joy and
yet he guides the routine of the day
so that they do not over-exert them
selves. 1t has been found out that
the best cure for tuberculosis is ac-
ton with plenty of opportunity for
recreative relaxation. Everybody is
given something to do at Mount Alto,
for tuberculosis. like the devil. finds
mischief for the Idle hand. So ever
II it is sweeping the hoor Of the dor
mitory or saving or carrying wood
everybody at Mount Alto has some
set task to perform.
The Pennsylvania Legislature this
year has been exceedingly generous
in its appropriation, for we are told
at Harrisburg that they have an i'm
mense confidence in the new State
Health Commissioner, and they are
willing to back him to the limit.
This accounts for the fact that Penn
s~ylvania is being looked upon as the
pioneer State in this new nation wide
movement
with this at its com
mand the Health Department stands
ready to launch an immense cam
paign for the awakening of the con-
seriousness of the people of Pennsyl-
vania that health Is a commodity
that their State government is anx-
ious to buy for them, and that the
only thing needed is cooperation.
The Department of Health has been
granted almost arbitrary powers In
the exercising of it's functions, and
the people must be prepared to ex-
pect certain rulings that will very
seriously interfere with the apparent
rights of the individual. A farmer
will learn, for instance. that he has
not the right to keep a COW in his
dairy that plainly is a victim OF
tuberculosis, for the milk which is
sent forth into the community Ia
going to seriously menace the health
of the consumer.
Take such a difficult problem as
the little country chool. 1t is the
belief of Colonel Martin that a great
many of these institutions are a seri-
Gus menace to the health of the
children. He Is eager to get rid OF
the little wooden school house, heated
by a big stove in the winter ano
miserably ventilated at all times
With no plumbing, these schools after
are the trading place for disease,
and it is not long before all the child
rem have come in contact with its
| IN fa0ffnn oirnntu hananaa 80 A. 49,
of sanitary conditions and also the
lack of enlightened guidance on the
part of The lone teacher who does
not have an organization behind her
This new health department is going
to discourage the county school
boards from maintaining the little
isolated school houses, and instead
they are going to the
larger institutions to which the chill
dren of outlying districts can be
brought by means of auto-bus trans.
~portation. 1t can be seen that this
will involve all sorts of political and
social difficulties that will require
an immense amount of patience and
frmness upon the part of the health
authorities.
N more important part of the
work will be the serious education OF
the public ON all matters of health,
When a family is stricken ~individu-
ally that family shows signs of con-
Germ and Immediately the doctor is
called to treat the stricken one. In
rare cases the doctor is able to recon-
mend certain changes in the routine
of the household and certain read
justments to the sanitary conditions
OF the home to prevent the spread of
that disease.
The new Department OF Health is
going 20 ave the privilege of deal
ing with a community in the same
way that the enlightened doctor deals
with a household. If a certain farmer
insists on keeping an extensive pig
farm in the center of a city or town
the health inspector of the future
has been empowered both by law and
by public opinion to Dust hat pig
farm II 1t can be shown that Il is a
menace to health. And IL a certain
] town dumps Its waste into a stream
- 1870. kwU- f- -