The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1920-01-15
COOPERATIVE COUNTY HEALTH
WORK IN NORTH CAROLINA.

Bureau Of County Health Wor
North Carolina State Board I
Health.
Since 1917 the North Carolina Stat
Board of Health, assisted by the II
ternationa1 Health Board, has co-ol
Grated with ten counties in three
year plan of educational health de
partment work with an average year
ly budget of $500. This work ha
been limited to the more importan
problems (units), and no attempt ha:
been made to cover the entire field O.
county health activity. The object has
been to demonstrate the benefits Of
public health by accomplishments
As the work was planned to be edu
cational and progressive, each county
was asked to pay yearly an increased
percentage of the expenditures: SO
per cent the first year, 60 per cent the
second wear, and Is per cent the third
year It is agreed also that the coun-
ty can provide extra units of work or
increase the. specified units. Each
county department is directed by a
health officer with a clerk, assisted
during part Of the work by lay health
inspectors dentist, throat special
isl, and a trained nurse. An office
with equipment and supplies is pro-
vided
The plan of work comprises six
units covering the more irportant
health problems of the state: the
prevention of soil pollution, the quar-
antine of contagious diseases, school
work, life extension work, infant hy-
giene work, and health education.
In the soil pulluticn work, which
begins with the opening of the health
department. health inspector is
placed in charge Of each township and
held responsible for it. Assisted by
the health officer, lectures and dem
onstrations are given at schools and
churches, and by these and other
methods the people are taught the i'm
portance Of sanitation. Each home |!
is visited, and an effort is made to Sc !
cure the building of sanitary closet, |
as we'll as the examination and treat
ment of the family for hookworm dis i
ease. Since the work is educational, !
the health department teaches the ne
cessity for d sanitary privy. but does
not build it for the family; in fact,
the building of the privy is the proof
that the family has been educated
The quarantine unit is carried out
according to the state law requiring
contagious diseases to be reported and
placarded, together with the enforce
ment of precautions to prevent the
spread of such diseases. The health
1fr;A /
giOns exist and gives instructions as
to the management of the patients. !
In the school work, with the coop
GRAFTON Of the teachers, d record of
every child is secured; and, where
needed. physical examination is =
made in the presence of the parents,
SO that the necessity for treatment
can be emphasized. Each county bud
get contains $500 per year for treat
,ng defects. With this a dentist with e
a portable outfit is employed for from :
two to three months, and dental elm Il
cs are held at rural schools. In three !
counties a permanent dental infirmary d
las been established at each health 3
office. Adenoid and tonsil. defects q
lave been given operative treatment :
It emergency hospitals, where a group
# from fifteen to twenty children are
cared for by an arrangement which
secures the operation at a small cost
md without expense to the health de- v
)artment
The object of life extension work,
begun during the second year, is to
each adults the necessity for periodic ~
physical examinations. These are =
made by the health officer after the If
)lan inaugurated by the Life Exten- Ia
sion Institute of New York City; in ir
he examination no attempt is made u
o make a diagnosis or suggest treat ~
nent, but to detect defects which .,
night handicap the patient. Special s.
emphasis is, OF course, placed upon N
sersonal hygiene. fl
The infant hygiene work, conducted 81
Turing the third" year by a trained o u
lurse, is designed to teach prenatal .
nd postnatal care. The women are
aught in groups, eight lectures and
demonstrations being given each =
group; home visits are also made to ,
ick babies, expectant mothers, and
after confinement An i'm
,ortant phase Of this work is the edu- III
,ation and control Of midwives m
through an ordinance of the county di
BOARD of health. IA
The educational work is conducted to
nth the other units, and consists of y
ectures, demonstrations, and CONSUL d.
ations, the publication of newspaper 22I
,rticles, exhibits at fairs, school con-
ests, the weighing and measuring of