The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-04-27
STATE HEALTH
0FFICERSIN
SESSION HERE
\
Authorities From All Sections
of North Dakota Attend
Conference
ORGANIZATION MADE
Medical Men Discuss Means
Of Keeping People of
State Healthy

Health authorities from all Sec
tions of the state are here to at
tend the first annual conference Of
the North Dakota state health Off
GERS which opened this morning in
the senate chamber of the Capital
building. The conference will close
tomorrow evening.
The program, which began at 10
a. m. today, consists largely of a
series of papers by health authori-
ties in various divisions of the
health work, followed by discussions
of each phase presented.
DR.. A. A. Whittemore, head of the
state health department, called the
corfserenc to order and stated that
the purpose of the meeting Of the
men and women who are heading
the work of keeping North Dakota
healthy is to correlate their work,
establish cooperative effort along
these lines throughout the state, to
hear' reports of progress in their
work and to organize health officers
fit that they may meet at least once
a year for conferences in the inter
ests Of public health.
Recommendation for state inspec-
tion of milk in the forty cities hav-
ing population of 1000 or more
were made by A. w. Ecklund Of the
Bismarck branch of the state public
health laboratory at this afternoons
session Of the conference.
Mr.. Ecklund said milk stands
second only to water as a disease
carrying vehicle, and "is responsible
for more sickness and death than
probably all other foods combined"
with this accusation standing
against one Of our most common
and apparently harmless articles Of
diet, the sanitary officer is justified
N giving it his close attention."
he said.
"While methods or treating the re-
suits Of milk-borne infections are
modern. the methods of enforcing
carriage and bicycle age-twenty-
five years behind the times" he de-
clared. ''An examination of the re-
suits of the North Dakota Milk sur
vey of 1924 made under the direc-
tiOn of food commissioner, R. o.
Baird, of Fargo, indicates that we
are in the dirty age"
Since milk sanitation under direc-
tion of the individual city health
Ulcer has practically resulted either
IN failure or no action whatever,
except in larger cities, he said, the
state health officer should person
ally assume the responsibility of
stimulating interest, organizing, di-
recting and establishing state lead
ership in the various communities.
To. this end, Mr.. Ecklund recon-
mended, in part, the following:
Design standard milk ordin-
ance suitable and flexible enough to
fulfill all local conditions.
Encourage through the individual
city health officer, the passage of
the standard state ordinance.
Ensure its effective enforcement.
In each quarter of the state (Bis-
marck, Minot, Grand Forks and
Fargo} there is public health
laboratory to which the milk, in
refrigerated containers, could be
shipped at certain intervals, for
meteorological, chemical and physi-
cal examination.
Determine the effect of the state
wide milk sanitation problem. Milk
ratings through which the degree to
which the city has approximated the
ideal milk supply, could be deter
mined from the tests.
The program this afternoon in
cluded the presentation of four other
papers: Cancer, its Prevalence and
Control" by DR.. L. G.. Eastman.
Stanton; Tuberculosis, Its Preva-
lerfse and Control in North Dakota"
DR.. j. Grassick, Grand Forks; Oral
Hygiene" DR.. R. S. Towne, Bismarck;
"The County Nurse, Her Problems"
Miss Isabelle Carruthers, Fargo. DR..
B. X. Kilbourne Of Fargo read a
paper this morning on Full Time
Health Administration in Fargo"