The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1922-11-23
GARRETT COUNTY PUBLIC
HEALTH ASSOCIATION
Formed At A Well Attended
Meeting Yesterday.

| y
reau, to the Garrett County Public
Health Association, permanently or
ganized at large and enthusiastic
meeting in Oakland yesterday after
noon. DR.. Henry w. McComas led in
effecting the permanent organization.
"No progressive community can be
satisfied with health conditions as
they are" DR.. Knox affirmed. "Thous-
ands of babies are born dead, thou5-
ands of children die, thousands of
mothers lose their lives in childbirth.
Saving this great loss in human life
is one of the most serious problems
of the State.
eve are not giving babies their
rights. EVERY baby has the right to
healthy parentage, to rested mother,
to mother properly cared for at the
! time of birth, and to its own mothers
milk (the only possible substitute
being clean, fresh cows milk modified
under medical direction). In rural
sections disease and death among wo-
men and children result because suf-
ficient and good help is not available
or is not considered necessary during
pregnacy and childbirth.
colder children have claim. They
suffer from infectious diseases and
from many defects of eyes, ears,
mouths and threats.
''Do not wait until the school age
to correct defects" DR.. Knox urged.
eff the child is forced to wait he
wastes valuable school time and is
handicapped, often permanently, by
staggering on under remediable de-.
fects.
b "Do not let Hungary, Lithuania
and Czecho-Slovakia get ahead of
Garrett county in health matters. l
have worked with the Red Cross in
Hungary and know conditions tehre.
In many stragetic centers throughout
the kingdom the natives are now
working out most efficiently an inten-
sive child health program. An at
tempt is being made to reach all ex-
pectant mothers, to put them in touch
with obstetrical specialists; an at
tempt is being made to keep in tou n
with children after birth and til Il
childhood.
''ln Budapest native efforts for
public health are wonderful. Enorm-
Gus appropriations are being made by
the government for public health.
Seventy-fve per cent of the expectant
mothers are under medical care thru
out pregnancy. Ohstetricians, padi-
otritians and competent nurses give
instruction to classes of mothers. Vol
unteer nurses do what they can to
help the trained nurses and doctors.
Hungary makes use of the cinema
to give health instruction. Every
moving picture performance is oblig-
ed, according to law, to have five min
utes devoted to pictures relating to
child welfare. Facts about bathing
and feeding, about skin diseases and
about every phase of health are thus
brought home to all persons in Hun
gary who patronize the cinema. I'M
agine what good would result in Ma
ryland if five minutes of every cine
ma performance were devoted to
health education.
1.-The way to get the health story
over in Garrett county is thru public
health nurses. A nurse can be of
enormous value to a county.
1.-THE public health nurse can carry
health instruction into the homes
Because she has the time and is a
woman she can get the confidence of
mother long before the doctor can get
it. Often too late, the Doctor hears
about the little lump that results in
cancer, or the little cough that warns
of tuberculosis. The nurse finds out
the Family needs and urges prompt
ness of 2ction necessary to recovery.
GA physical examination of all the
school children viii be made possible
thru the public health nurse.
''In isolated farm houses the public
nurse is a messenger of light; she is
a great help in making modern farm
life attractive. The worn farmers
wife feels that somebody is interested
in her. The nurse can give facts as to
the care of milk, for instance, as to
tie water supply and the sanitary
toilet. A knowledge of these facts
viii result in grea! improvement of
| rural health.
"You must have enough nurses"
"You must have enough nurses"
DR., Knox asserted emphatically. at
doesn't pay to try to get along with
one where two are needed. Ten thous-
and is a maximum population for
single nurse. The nurse ought to live
in the community in which she works
and be in touch with IFS life and in.
ter ests.
ga nurse would rot be 'saddled on