Evening star., 1936-02-17

economy" the letter said The grad
uate nurses declared this policy has
deprived the hospital of privacy. No
beginning or end of life" the letter
continued, can escape the prying
eyes and ears OF those in the next
beds"
May Withdraw Credit.
1t was said that unless conditions
are bettered, the Nurses Examining
Board will withdraw Gallinger from
the list of credited training schools
by the end of this year.
Public health from woman's
point of view" was discussed by Mrs
Harvey w. Wiley, leading club woman
and the widow Of a famous public
health physician. Another speaker
was Dr. Harry Stoll Mustard, asso-
ciate professor of public health ad-
ministration at Johns Hopkins Uni
versity.
In his talk to the mass meeting,
DR.. Ruffin said in part:
May I preface my remarks this
afternoon with a word concerning
an apparent misunderstanding of the
purpose of this meeting. Some per-
sons have thought evidently that the
hackers of this meeting hoped by the
application of mass action or the use
of f1ag-waving mob appeal to at
tempt to force the hand of the Off
cials of the Government in their con-
sideration of health funds. Obviously,
this is not true.
THE citizens of Washington have
no established means of expressing
themselves by ballot, and the only
channels available for the expression
of opinion of the citizens as a whole
is through their organized civic bodies
and such joint meetings as this.
Nov we have this paradoXical sit
uation: Washington has one of Amer
ica's ablest health officers, handi-
capped in his Office by lack of funds,
lack of personnel. lack of supplies
and equipment, and even lack of de-
cent desk space for his staff.
Gives ILLUSTRATION.
"Let me give you an example of
what failure in a hospital laboratory
may mean to you. Let us say that
your physician has made a culture
of your child's sore throat. He sends
this to the Health Department labora-
tory to determine if diphtheria be
present. Did you know that there
were over 500 cases of diphtheria
last year with 29 needless deathsO.
Now if the equipment be good this
culture will be kept overnight at a
certain temperature to allow the
germs to grow and be recognized. -
"I must mention one or two other
items. The keystone which makes all
other Health Department activities
effective is public health nursing
service. Take for instance the new
cases of tuberculosis being discovered
as a result of the recent case-finding
survey. Unless these cases can be
followed and the individuals who are
spreading the disease to others around
them, gotten under control, no good
can come from finding these cases.
This is a sample of the manifold ac-
tivities which only the public health
nursing service can do.
Washington needs at least $50 such
nurses. The Health Department bud
get allows only 81. The very efficient
Instructive Visiting Nurse Society has
through curtailment of Community
Chest funds, been compelled to reduce
its force to 81. All told, the nurses
both public and private, who incident
ally work in perfect cooperation, are
thus lis, very much less than one-hali
of the needed number. They simply
cannot cover the ground.
| This thing must be said about the
situation that has developed. It is moi