Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-07-07
Health Board Head
Defends His Program
CONTINUED from page ~

In improving health conditions in a
community. 1t requires the intelli-
gent cooperation of an enlightened
public with an efficient Board of
Health and an expert sanitary officer
at its head: Nothing short of that is
capable Of producing effective and
lasting results.
Let me Illustrate with some con-
crete examples what 1 mean by this
statement. We will take for instance
the question of a health survey. Such
survey Is to a health officer and
Health Board what a building plan is
to a builder or the city plan to the
ginning OF the year the writer has
made every effort possible tt have a
survey of the health of the city made,
but with no result. He was encour-
aged in this direction by Miss Clark
of the Home Service Section of the
Atlatic division of the American
Red Cross, and at one time it looked
as If something nay really happen.
But said the local branch of the Red
Cross; this is your business Board of
Health, go ahead and do it and we
will assist you" Nay said the Board
of Health, we are not in a position to
do that, for it takes no less than
about 100 or probably $50 workers to
accomplish this within a reasonable
SihhS ~ PiSdS0 uO YOU 30 dnedQ anu
we will cooperate with you. So
finally the thing was dropped. About
six weeks ago ne was again encour-
aged in this direction as there was a
housing survey to be taken jointly by
the home service section of the local
Red Cross and the Y. M. c. A. and
about $50 workers were assured. He
took it upon himself to have the nee
essary cards printed and that is the
GXfpnf tn which tho c1fruaU nrnHaadad
for there are only thirty-fve workers
and they find the cards too compli-
Gated. I wish it understood that / am
not accusing or blaming any one,I am
simply stating the facts as they are,
and trying to point out the difficulties
with which one is beset on all sides
when attempting anything worth
while.
Take the matter of clinics as an
other instance. This subject has been
much agitated and I know nothing
that would be fruitful of better re-
suits than the establishment of a GER
tain limited number of clinics. After
many personal interviews and numer-
u letters from officials of the United
States Public Health Service and the
State Board of Health, and many dis
cussions, meetings and lectures and
what not, a plan was finally formu-
lated by which the efforts of the
Board of Health, Hospital Association
and Board of Trade were to be pool
ed, as 1t were, into one great effort
and a clinic building was to be erect
ed. However, one evening last week
at a joint meeting of the various
committees, the entire scheme met
an untimely and an inglorious death
for various reasons Some of the most
pertinent eaSon were as follows:
III rcf thn Poord Nf A1dorpoan ~ 10
give $4,000 but could not or would
unless the hospital decided the
ground upon which the clinic was to
be built to the city, or else the Board
Of Health be given a perpetual lease
of the rooms needed for such clinics.
1t was also stipulated that the clinics
be put entirely into the hands of the
Board of Health. This the Hospital
Association refused to do. Then it
that these clinics were not really
necessary; hat the United States
Public Health Service statistics as to
venereal diseases were padded and
exaggerated and that he had it on
high authority that the purpose was
mainly for creating fat jobs for some
United States public health sanitari-
ans Others objected on the ground
that it will ~pauperize the public and
hat people who can well afford to
pay for services will get them free of
charge, and SO on.
The clinics contemplated were as
follows:
1. Venerea1 clinic for prevention and
treatment of venereal diseases.
II. An industrial clinic manly for
The detection and prevention of dis
eases of adult life with a view of ulti-
mately making periodical examina-
Public Health Service had an expert
ready for us to do this work without
Rry charge to the city for a period of
about ten months. AS an example of
some of the benefits to be derived by
The employers of the community, not
to mention the vast improvement in
the general health of the employees is
this: supposing a man is found to be
leaf or impaired hearing, the employ
er is at once informed and in this way
serious accidents can be avoided as
the man is placed in such position
where his defect will not be a menace
either to himself, his fellow employees
or to his employer. The same is true
of eye defects. Many claims are made
by employees on account of hernias
which have existed previously and
these could be detected before such
claims are made. Special attention
WOuld pO pdld " 1llOdob4 OIL
III. Oral and dental clinic to take
care of the defects found in school
children by the school physician. The
need of such clinic will be obvious
from the perusal of the following
statistics herewith attached.
". A tuberculosis clinic. This elm
ic is functionating quite effectively at
present thanks to the activities of the
Anti-Tuberculosis League of the
County of M~iddlesex, under which
auspices the writer is conducting
same and also to the generosity of
the city hospital authorities who
g~raciously allowed the use of a room
for this purpose and who promised
better facilities in the near future.
The Anti-Tuberculosis league pays a
special nurse who devotes her entire
time to tuberculosis work.
Then comes the. question of milk
stations which would make it posi-
Bile for every mother no matter how
poor, to obtain pure milk for her
baby at cost. This matter has been
under consideration by the Board
of Health but who is to furnish the
funds? Where should they be To-
Gated and how and by whom should
they be managed? 1t has been sug-
gested that they be located in some
of the school buildings in different
sections of the town and taken care
of by the nurses with the help of the
ianitors of these schools. a such
an arrangement be made? VIII not
the same objections as to authority
and petty squabbling obtain in this
matter as in the case of the clinics?
How about a milk commission COM