The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-10

To The Editor of The Age-Herald:
 It appears that some of the friends of public welfare are confused by the
 fact that more than one organiz a-ion exists for the battle against tubercu-
 iosis and it may be thought that thls
 means a duplication of effort and
 waste of money.
 Please allow us to point out
 First. That there Is a local asso2ia-
 tion, voluntary and hard working,
 well known and trusted, whose proper
 title is the Anti ti-Tuberculosis Asso eia-
 tion of Jefferson County. It's field is
 Jefferson county It's income is de-
 rived entirely from this field.
 It conducts clinic at it's disp enjary
 at 2019 Avenue r, Sixth avenIe, south), on Mondays. Wednesdays and
 Fridays, at 130 p. nl., and throat lclinic on Fridays at D. m. The av- craze attendance approxmates 30 ra- tients each week. Diagnosis is given and careful records kept. Reports arc made to the health department. A large proportion of newly discovered cases of tuberculosis are reported trom these clinics. There are four nurses working daily through the city and counfy for the care of known cases and for the discovery of others
 The association also has care of the Red Mountain Sanator1um, with an av- craze of 37 patients. of whom to are usually children under 12 years Of age Here there are two day-nurses and one night-nurse.
 | Endeavor is now being made to es- tablish regular clinic service at Bes- semcc ard other points. Also the asso- citation is keen to bring into existence hospital work or a large scale for tho advanced cases in both white and col l ored population great deal of edu- lcatioual literature is distributed and l ins truction' given to children through I the schools. Both the income and eX- lpenditpre of this local association are wholly within the bounds of Jeffer- son county.
 l There IS need for an increased in- come for the association, because the demands made upon it's aid and it's op- portunities to be Useful constantly
 multiply. Whenever one of its func- tions can be adequately handled oy the
 health department, the association will util ze it's resources on other co-opeTa- tive lines of work. Its chief burden at present is the cost of maintaining the Red Mountain Sanatorium. There are | no highly-paid workers. Much of the service is rendered without compen-
 sation. The secretary is pr, George
 Eaves.
 Second Some other counties have similar local anti-tuberculosis associa- tioils rendering similar service to tt cir seve. al communities and to the suf- fe IT; from tub eculosis within their
 borders, but they are very few To
 create such associations there exists the Alabama Tuberculosis Associa- tion." This organization is absolutely necessary; it's field lies outside of Jef- terson county, though for convenience: i: it's headquarters are in Birmingham. Persons interested in combating tu- berculosis know that no county is safe so long as any other county neglects its tuberculosis, just as no state is safe whose neighbor states neglect their duty in this regard The state associa ton has for its secretary MT. Il. D. Cullen. A field organizer is also
 employed to hasten contact with every
 county. Salaries and the number of employees are both cut to the lowest lpoint consistent with efficient contin- uaree
 Note-These two organizations uni to | in the support of "The Alabama
 Blazer" a monthly bulletin for in-
 forming their memberships concernin g l the work being done, and especially ! that line of work for and with chill
 dren, known as the Modern Health Crusade"
 ! vast amount of correspondence has
 to be handled, and each association sec retary is a busy man. Constantly new | inquiries are being received from al
 parts of the state from sufferers. from ! their friends, from teachers concerning l the crusade, from health officers ant ! doctors concerning hospital service avail able, from citizens concerning what car | be done to secure local hospital, and a | host of other questions of the greatest l importance As is the case in Birming ham, so throughout Alabama a vas , amount of education is being dons through the Alabama Tuberculosis Asso I citation.
 l The money to support the Alabama | Tuberculosis Association comes iron those who qualify as members, or iron | the sale of Christmas seals, fractioI 1 of the proceeds thereof, being put int; 1 this missionary work. Both the secre
 tary and field agent might we'll be on the covered by the sixty-seven counties O
 the state. each of which will averag about 1000 active cases of tuberculosis Jefferson county having probably 6,to | cases, with ten times that number I the state at large.
 1 Third A third activity has been secured ] from the state of Alabama, and is knowi as the Alabama Tuberculosis Commis 1 sion. It's business is to foster and en l courage the voluntary work, and espe
 cially to promote the establishment o hospitals for the treatment of tn ! white plague" It's practical value ha 1 yet to be shown in the securing of ade ! quate funds from county boards of reve I nue for building and maintaining thes sorely needed and long neglected impie
 ments fo rseparating the sick and dyin {, from the susceptible persons exposed |
 | their infection, especially young chll
 dren The commission thus has fiei
 of wide usefulness in which will be eS
 hibited the wisdom of appropriating tn
 r,.u fnnd voted for it's use None c