Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1950-07-06
County housekeeping
BIZ Marjorie Garfield
By Marjorie Garfield
TIE Health Dept. Report
Continued from last week.

L he I1edlLn department. Hds
been growing under the guidance
of DR.. V. l.. Ellicott for more
than fifteen years. Its employees
now number 72, twenty seven OF
them public health nurses. Quar-
tiers for regular clinics have been
enlarged and improved since the
days of the Rockville clinic be-
hind a folding screen in the court
house corridors. Special clinic
space was included in the plans of
the Suburban Hospital. New
clinic rooms have just been opened
this year in Glen Echo.
Personnel Board Study
A thorough study of the organi-
cation and employees of the de-
partment was the biggest job I'M
dertaken by the Personnel Board
last year. Two of their suggest
ions led to notable changes in the
department. They strongly recon-
mended that the sanitary inspec-
ton work of the county be given
more emphasis and be put on a
professional basis in line with
standards accepted by leading
health authorities for a progress.
i've community like Montgomery
County. A separate Division OF
Sanitation was set up under a
new chief, Reinhart W. Koch, who
has had special training in public
health engineering. Six sanitar-
isns at salaries from $500 to
$1,000 higher than those formerly
paid sanitary inspectors will as
sist him. Four men qualified by
training in public health and sani.
tary engineering and experience
in official public health sanitation
have already been employed. The
appointment of the other two is
now under consideration.
Nurses ReclassiEed
The Personnel Board also re-
classified nurses and raised sal.
aries to meet competition from
other communities. Following this
study there were promotions with
in the department, six additions
nurses were employed, and DR.
Ellicott is hopeful that he will be
able to recruit six additional quail
flied public health nurses next
year.
More Nurses Better Pay
The provision for more nurses
at better salaries has come none
too soon in the opinion of DR.
Ellicott for the Health Depart
ment has been undertaking broad
er com m unity responsibilities
Work is increasing in providing
safe birth for healthy babies anC
inimunization against diptheria
whooping cough, small pox anC
tetanus. Nurses are devoting more
time to programs for following VI
defects which show up in exam.
lining school children. There arc
now ear, eye, ringworm. dental
orthopedic, and cardiac clinics Il
help in diagnosing and planning
treatment for these childhood de.
fects.
7. B. Plan Conferred Here
Also the first year of the five
year plan to make tuberculosis 9
rare disease in the county was
concentrated in upper Montgom.
cry. Thirty percent of rural resi-
dents were X-rayed and nurses
visited half again as many chest
clinic patients as in 1913. In the
whole county, besides working
with the 3.5% of those X-rayec
who needed more pictures or heir
in planning for treatment, nurses
traced and examined 1871 of the
people who had been in contact
with all 1874 new cases of tuber.
culOSlS reported.
A Special Stake
Our rural communities have q
special stake in the proper con
duct of the Division of Sanitation
In 1949 fifty dairy farms were
under inspection; five retail raw
diaries; four pasteurization plants
Three hundred seventy eight tanks
and IS sanitary privies we're in.
stalled under Health Department
permits. Private water supplies
in the country must be examined
regularly; and the nuisances OF
garbage dumps are more appar.
cnt TO rural residents.