New Britain herald., 1919-05-14
SuDcrintcnucnt'S Report.

yember 18th, 1918, and from that time until the new superintendent was appointed February 1st, 1919, the administrative work was carried on by the chairman assisted by the members of the board.
 "On September 18th, 1918. two soldiers, on a furlough from Camp Dcvens, were discovered to have in f1uenza, which they had probably con- tracted outside of the city. This was the beginning of an epidemic which ragged through October and up to the middle of November; there has been a number of small spasmodic out breaks since that. time. but the real epidemic ended in NCvcmbe There were reported to the health depart ment 6.921 cases of influenza We know that this does not represent all of the cases. the total number was probably over 10000. Deaths from influenza totalcd 236 deaths from pneumonia tOtalcd 344, at least 200 of these deaths wore due to pneu- monia following influenza, so that in fluenza was directly or indirectly re- sponsible for approximately 450 of tfe deaths during the past year.
 Influenza at it's Height.
 For the two months that the in fluenza was at it's height all routine work of the department, except acute contagious disease work, was auto matically stopped, all the resource and energy of the departm ent was needed to handle the influenza.
 Scarlet fever, diphtheria and Nn neaslcs have been slightly more pre- valent than usual during the past year; and the deaths from diphtheria is entirely too high. There has been a drop in the number of typhoid cases, six cases only being reported whicht is less than in any one of the five proceeding years. This speaks volumes for the general sanitary condition of the city.
 There are many health problems still to be worked out in the city
 "GD The housing situation is critical, many tenements are now oc- cupied which are entirely unsuited for human beings and should be con- demned, but the scarcity of tene- ments makes this move Impossible
 "(2) There are in different sec- tons of the city. streets in which there is no water supply, wells being depended upon for water. The safety
 
 sence of contamination from human excreta. Tn these same sections there are 10 sewers; sewage is disposed of in the ground and it is only ques- ton of time before the wells will become so polluted with the sewage that disease must follow. City water should be furnished and all wells permanently closed.
 
 "(3> The progress of the nation depends upon her children. the pro- gross of the child is governed greatly by it's health and therefore the health of the child is one of the most i'm portant questions confronting the nation. The war has shown us that disease may be largely prevented when individuals are under discipline and may be periodically inspected for disease and unnatural conditions cor rected. School children under disci- pline may be, and arc, periodically inspected but there system stops--it should be carried further and every effort used to correct all conditions in the children which may have a harmful effect upon it's health It is too large problem to discuss here. but we should have an extension of our school inspection and follow-up work.
 "(4 As has been noted in several previous annual reports. acute con- tagious disease cannot be satisfac- tOriIy handled without a hospital for contagious disease, the financial cost of sending patients to isolation hos pitfalls in other cities is prohibitive To treat all children in their homes is ofttimes a great expense and an injustice to other members of the family as if is Ofttimes necessary 10 quarantine the entire family-as in stances, for one child i'll with diph- theria it was necessary to keep from school for five weeks 26 other chi1- dren. Many times fOul or five chil- dren are kept from school for five or six weeks due to one member of the family having a contagious dis ease. Had we q hospital for these patients, not only could we cut down the number being exposed to disease, ing could allow the other children to return to school.
 "(5) There arc many other prob 1ems which time and education can solve. It is indeed gratifying to note the general cooperation throughout the city, as noted in the plumbing inspectors and sanitary inspectors' reports. especially. They have been able to accomplish some really re- markable results and an ever in- creasing number of requests are be-