The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1930-05-07
PERIODICAL CHECK
ON HEALTH URGED
ON UNSUSPECYING
Under Appearance Of WeIIness
Disease May Be Sowing Its /.
Seed, Dr.. Lockhead Warns

Grand Forks, N. D., May 7.-N)-
Outlining the differences between
doctors interested in preventing dis
eases and those interested mainly in
curing them, DR.. D. G. Lockhead,
deputy health officer of Rochester,
Mimi, tonight urged practicing ply
sicians to call the benefits of adequate
medical care to the attention Of the
people.
Prevention Of disease, Lockhead
said IN an address to the North Da-
kota state health officers meeting,
does not mean that the cost of serv-
Ice to the patient will be reduced or
that the income of physicians will be
impaired. It does, mean. he said,
that people will get more returns
from their money because they will
have less pain and misery and less
loss Of time from productive work.
The aim Of the modern public
health doctor, Lockhead said, is to
get the people to 60 to their doctors
sooner or earlier than they have been
doing, 50 that the words "inoperable
and incurAble" will not be heard so
often.
Tragedies Of Ignorance
I'VE have seen 80 many of the
wrecks of humanity strewn along
LIES highway and known them to be
tragedies Of ignorance or neglect that
we believe In going out into the high
ways and by-ways and shouting from
the house-tops Go u your doctor
and your dentist periodically for q
checking up on your bodily condi-
ton" s4
Many physicians, however, contend
that this would be advertising and
unethical, Lockhead said and assert
ed their position II: ''sxIere we are.
1t people want to consult us we are
In u offices at certain hours but 1t
Is. not right that we should say Come
unto US. we will do you good"
Meanwhile, the speaker asserted.
poor suffering humanity continues
to suffer or lay foundation for fu-
ture suffering until some friend meets
you on the street and, remarking how
poorly you look, suggests that you see
. DOCTOR"
The speaker asserted that the mod
ern physician, with up-to-date meth
DDS and instruments Of precision, can
detect the onset of serious disease
before 1t has progressed to the point
where there is tissue change and even
before the individual feels any bad
effects Of the oncoming disease and
IN plenty Of time to prevent the dis
ease from developing, or at least hav-
Ing q serious or fatal result.
Healthy Body Not All
AN ounce Of prevention may cost
more than . pound Of cure but it Il
. much better bargain" the speaker
said. THE money saved by proven.
tive medicine" he asserted, will not
be saved In doctor bills but In sick
ness, suffering ana heartaches. You
viii live longer, happier and more
useful lives. but the doctor Is the man
who can do 1t for you and who must
be paid for it.
Il am quite satisfied that the people
Of this country are prepared and Will
Ing today to pay the doctors Of this.
county more money to keep them we'll
than they have been paying In the
past for q cure, or an attempted cure,
once a disease has occurred"
The theory that disease can be
prevented by building up a strong
and healthy body is only partly true,
Lockhead said. Dividing diseases in
to two general classes, he said those
originating within the body may be
lessened or delayed by building up
strong bodily resistance but that
those originating outside the body
cannot be controlled in the same way.
Watchfulness Can Curb Cancer
For some diseases, he said, specific
cures are available, but the causes of
others are obscure and the medical
profession still has to rely on general
measures such as quarantine, isola-
ton, disinfection and proper health
habits.
Among diseases for which there are
specific cures or preventives, he
said, are smallpox, diphtheria and
typhoid fever.
Development Of strong bodies and
the dissemination Of information re-
garding its control have resulted In