New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1921-11-18
TWENTY EIGHT MONTHS
MODERN PUBLIC HEALTH
WORK IN NEW MEXICO
MRS. Adelina Warren, Chair
man, State Board of Public Wei
fare, Santa Fe, New Mexico)

- me 1913 Legislature enacted tn
as most comprehensive health law TO b
or found In any state in the Union. Dur
3 ing the two and half years of II
~ operation, there has been develope,
III health organization of which tn
/ state may Justly be proud. In orde
III that We may have a better under
"a standing OF what 1t means to New
le Mexico, | include in my report {
brief outline of the structure anC
IT accomplishments of The Bureau O
u Health, of the STATE Department Of
'e Public Welfare.
n The Department of Health, al
: originally constituted, consisted of a
d Board of three members appointed
$ by the Governor, and an executive
d staff appointed by the Board. A
r commissioned officer of the U. s
G Public Health Service was detailed
by the Surgeon General, at the re-
qest of the Board, to assume the dut-
q les of commissioner of Health and
I organize the Department In order
to systematic the work, 1t was sepa-
: rated into divisions and apportioned
among the three members of the
STAFF. The divisions, created by the
Board in 1919, were Public Health
: Education, Sanitary Engineering,
Preventable Diseases and Vital Sta
tistics. In October, 1919, the Di-
vision of Child Hygiene and Public
: Health Nursing were added and
trained nurse placed in charge in
January, 1920. These divisions are
still actively functioning, and their
duties may be briefly outlined as
follows;
The Division of Public Health
Education is the publicity bureau
which furnishes the press with art
icles of general interest on health
matters, reaches the public through
talks or motion pictures, and aids
the local health officers and lay or
ganizations with educational mater
ial.
Through the Division of Sanitary
Engineering, every public water sup
ply and sewage disposal plant in the
State is constantly inspected and
supervised. In cooperation with the
L. S. Public Health Service all
sources of drinking water used on
the interstate railroads are watched
for any possible contamination. In
addition, the Division controls the
sanitation of food handling estab-
lishments, milk supplies, public
buildings, swimming pools, factories,
hotels, lodging houses, and many
other public places. Some of these |
latter duties were conferred on the |
Bureau by the last Legislature and
the regulations governing them are
still in process OF formulation.
As the name implies, the Division
of Preventable Diseases has to do
with the control of all diseases or
other conditions that may produce
preventable illness or accident. All
such cases occurring in the State are
reported to 1t daily, by the local
health officers, thus enabling the
Division Chief to maintain a con-
stant watch for impending outbreaks
of disease. In case sudden outbreaks
occur, he is ready to investigate and
establish control measures, IL the To-
cal resources are not sufficient. This
Division enforces the school vaccina-
tiOn law and attends to the distribu-
tion of vaccines and antitoxins. The
latter are sold at cost to all who ap-
ply, the price charged being less than
cne-half the former cost of such
It also supervises the !!
venereal disease control work, in
two local free clinics now In
operation. I!
Statistics are usually regarded as
dry, but those handled by the Divi-
sion OF Vital Statistics are records
Of tremendous value to the people Of
the State: they are truly vital, for !
they are legal evidence of the two !
events in the life OF an !
birth and death. The
birth and death certificates are care
fully inspected for errors, as they are y
sent in each month by the health a
officers, and, when completed, are l
filed under lock and key in a fire
study of the statistics gathered from r
these certificates that We became Z
aware of the high infant mortality I
rate in this state and they also point
ed the way to other causes of death !:
which were taking a heavy toll Of Il
our people.
As has been stated, the Divisions
Of Child Hygiene and Public Health n
Nursing were established by the c
Board late in 1919. and an espec- n
ally trained nurse, furnished by the
National Red Cross, placed in charge
shortly after January 1, 1920. The
chief is now, however, in the entire n
employ of the State. These Divis-
ons have supervision over the work D.
# all the public health nurses in the IT
State and a standard of efficiency
lot surpassed by any other state, is
equired. They keep in close touch
With all nursing organizations and
a register of public health IL
lurses available for service in New :,
dexico. Their principal function, -
however, has been to plan the work G
# school medical inspection, infant 4;
y giene, and maternal care To- local :,
ealth officers and nurses. II. con- i,
lection with this latter function, a r
curse of st idy for miixives has 3
een arranged and in order To- de- Iv
Ell nine the p ac.icabili'y oi this :.
nesns of instruction, 1t is now be;ng n
resented 60 classes of native mid p
rives by a trairca nurse j.. one Of
he full-time counties where there is
n unusually large namber of mid or
Iives. In,
Finally, a most valuable division n;
( the Bureaus work is the State
'ublic Health Laboratory, which is af
Maintained at Albuquerque, in con- ty
unction with the State University. RI
Iere every kind of laboratory test ar
aving a bearing on the public health in
made free of charge, for all of al
ho pooplo M tho Cfafo a.