Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise., 1926-06-05
AS Nurses In Health
Work In Counties
More Than Five Times As Many
n As Were On The Lists
In 1920.

A There are forty-five nurses engaged
in public health work in the counties
Of Maryland-just five times as many
as were on the lists in 1920 when pub
lie health nursing was first linked up
with the work Of the State Depart
ment of Health. In 1929, nine counties
had some form of nursing service;
now, eacr Of the twenty-three coun-
ties Is supplied with at least one
nurse, and several Of the counties
have two or three or more. In each
section, the activities Of the nurses
form a part Of the county public health
program and are under the direction
Of the Deputy State Health Officer or
the Local Health Officer, with adisory
nursing service from the State De-
partment of Health.
These facts were brought out by
Miss G. Ethel Monroe, Advisory
Nurse in Maryland, at the annual
conference of State Health Officers
and county and local Boards Of Health
under the auspices Of the State De-
partment of Health at the Johns Hop
kins School of Hygiene, at Baltimore(
last week.
Encouraging as the development of
public health nursing has been", Miss
Monroe said eff we are to keep pace
with the opportunities, and with the
needs for nursing service in each
county, we should have at least one
hundred nurses, not simply forty-five.
Throughout the country, where special
thought has been given to this sub
ject it Is felt that there should be at
least one nurse to each $500 Of the
population--not an extravagant esti-
mate surely, for everybody will agree
that any nurse who can give public
health nursing to parish of that
size would have no time for loafng.
"On the basis of that estimate, since
the total population of the counties
of Maryland is approximately 100000
we ought to have ninety-nine field
nurses, and that number and more
are what we hope to have eventually"
The work of the public health nurses
is financed partly from State, county
or local appropriations and partly by
funds raised by voluntary organiza-
tions, county public health associa-
tions, local chapters of the American
ned Cross and by the sale Of the
Christmas seals by the State Tuber-
culosis Association. State or county
funds finance the work Of thirty-four
of the nurses, and voluntary organi-
cations that Of eleven nurses. Allie
gany county with a population Of 74,-
POI has six nurses, the largest num-
Der In an yone county; Baltimore
county with q population Of $3.50
has five nurses; Washington with q
population Of 64,402; Frederick with
53,467; and Anne Arundel county with
42,951 each have three nurses. Car
roll, Hartford, Howard, Montgomery,
Prince George, Talbot, and Wicomico
each have two nurses. Each Of the
rest Of the counties has one nurse.
Other phases of public health nurs-
ing were discussed as follows: "a
County Child Hygiene Program" by
Miss Louise MacConney, of Hartford
county; Supervising Nurses in the
Baltimore Health Department" by
Miss Jane Newman of Baltimore;
"TheAdvantage Of Postgraduate
Cours," by Miss Hermine Badenhoop
Of Montgomery county; Preparing a
Nurse for Rural Work" by Miss Mar
garet 4. Newman Of Frederick coun-
ty. Md.