The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1922-01-04
REPORT OF THE State
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
l.. A. Riser, Nj. D., In Charge.


To the Chairman and Members of the
Executive Committee, South Car
olina State Board of Health.
Gcntlemen:
herewith submit a narrative and
statistical report of work done by the
Department Of Rural Sanitation and
County Health Work during the year
1921:
The Department of Rural Santa
tion and County Health Work was Sc
verely crippled this year by having
it's appropriation reduced two thirds.
With the sum Of $4,000 it was i'm
possible to give financial assistance to
seven Counties and run the Admins
tration office. A conference was held
with the County Health Officers as
to the advisabilty Of discontinuing
our Departments or running them on
a very reduced scale. We then went to
New York, consulted the International
Health Board, and arranged to get
their promised appropriation with
the understanding that they would
materially cut their appropriation
for 1922.
The work in Lee County was dis
continued at the end of the first quar-
ter, after their county appropriation
was exhausted, and Orangburg Coun-
ty received assistance in a small way
for two months longer and was then
put on its own resources. In this way
we have been able to run our Depart
ments during the year. Darlington
County will run it's own department
without assistance from the State in
1922 and urw counties will be added.
We have three new counties which are
preparing to ask us to assist them in
nerfecting county health depart
ment.
Each county health officer is work
ing full time in his county, but is Civ
en- number of counties without health
departments which he is to assist dur
ing the year in some way, if called on.
We are Offering limited sum of
money and the personal supervision
and direction of the State Director to
any county which will organize a
County Health Department. We pro-
pose to help finance these cor'ities
for few years, until the work cstab-
fishes itself, and then expect the coun-
ty to make full appropriation. In this
way, we hope, eventually, to establish
a county health department in every
county, with trained experienced per-
sonnel under State supervision The
propriated $4,000 for 1872 only on
the understanding that the State give
4 similar amount. Should the State
fail to appropriate the full asn"l1C
asked for we would be compelled to
1;~rontinuc our work in the coun''.E
receiving financial assistance.
We are able to show a marked de-
crease in total deaths, and deaths
from prcvcntablc diseases, in every
county where we have worked two
years. Some figures are given below,
compared for Il few counties with the
State at large. Space forbids us from
giving figures for each county
We would like to urge on the mem
bcrs Of the State Board Of Health the
Importance of securing full appropria-
ton asked for 1922, and ask the in
diVidual support of each member of
the board.
We have an unusually fine person
mel and are doing 4 greater and better
amount of work on the smallest ap-
preparation of any Southern State.
EDUCATIONAL:
While the entire work Of the De-
partmc is more or less educational,
we hay grouped under this heading
some specific work of note
We had no money with which TO run
our Motion Picture Unit this year, but
believing this work too valuable to
allow the equipment to remain idle,
we mar"gcd to finance this depart
ment ny advertisements and personal
contributions. During the summer
months we visited eleven counties.
Darlington, Lexington, SaIuda, Edge
field, Mccormick, Abbevillc, Green
wood, Anderson, Oconcc, Pickens and
Spartanburg. We held 81 meetings at
which these Melton Pictures on Health
Education were shown to a total at
tendance Of 1880 people
IN Oconcc alone, as a result of the
film on tuberculosis in cattle, 500
COWS have been tubcrculin tested. In
this work we had the cooperation of
Farm and Home Demonstration
Agents. When the county had no
agent we had the cooperation Of the
county superintendent Of education
and in one county the members Of the
County Medical Association made
talks for US.
Our County Health Officers and
Nurses have given 81 lectures to
1O,537 people and have made 255 talks
TO school children. 1861 homes have
been personally visited and 13,257
letters have been mailed from the di-
rector's office alone, during the
month Of November, we sent out 784
personal letters. TWcnty-scvcn coun-
ty newspapers have published once
each month, an article on Disease
Prevention sent out from our office. |
Exhibits have been given at three
county fairs, health plays given in "A
dozen or more communities, literature
ana newspaper articles published.