Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-03
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Human Problems Call for Regional Attack

. The Schmidts, retired railroad man
and his wife, have tuberculosis They live in
a suburban county in the Washington area.
They need hospital care, but there is no
tuberculosis hospital in their part of the
State. Less than 20 miles away, there are
100 empty beds at the District of Columbia's
tuberculosis hospital at Glenn Dale, Md. But
the Schmidts can't go there because they
are not District residents.
. Danny IA, was committed to District
training school as an habitual truant. Un-
der guidance, he made progress and even
learned to like to study. But his mother
moved to to suburban county and Danny
was dismissed from the school. In his new
home, unsupervised, he went back to his old
habits. Recently, he was arrested for driving
without license when he should have been
in schoolroom.
. Harry, bachelor, is on relief in one
Washington area Jurisdiction. He has q
chance for job in another county, If he
viii move there. He's afraid to do it, be-
cause if the job falls through his eligibility
for relief-on the basis of residence-might
be wiped out.
These are isolated examples of human
which exist in the big Washington metro
politan community because health and well
fare programs are administered separately
by each political jurisdiction.
No one expects independent local adj
ministration to break down; each jurisdic-
tion's programs are bound too much by
law and individual structures Of taxation
for that to happen. Nevertheless, officials
throughout the Metropolitan Area the
metro" as we call it in this series-have
recognized that the spread Of urban devel-
opment has opened both opportunities and
demands for cooperative solutions to their
problems.
How will metro growth intensity prob
lens which already exist in caring for the
sick and needy?
In the first place, the sheer volume Of
sick and needy persons will increase steadily
as the area doubles in size. Second, the
fact that people all over the metro commu-
nifty will be living under urban conditions
will present the suburbs, for the first time,
with intense demands for public aid-to
degree that only the central city has had
to face previously. Third, while problems
spread throughout the region, the core city
is being forced to bear an increasing burden
of dependent people. Fourth, it is inevitable
that increasing numbers Of residents Of one
jurisdiction will want to take advantage Of
health and welfare facilities-like hospitals
in another jurisdiction. To what degree
should one Jurisdiction be burdened with
the provision OF these regional facilities?
The opportunities exist mainly in new
types of arrangements between jurisdictions
10 be Vui6 ~
to coordinate their programs and to avoid
duplication and waste Of tax revenues.
The regional problems Of health and
welfare are less elear-cut and dramatic than
the need for joint action TO solve Transport
tation, water supply and sewage-disposal
problems. By the same token, however,
many Of them win be easier to solve. Some,
officials already are convinced, can be
worked out simply by administrative agree
ments. Some may require legislative
changes, and some, entirely new types of
political machinery.
Before looking for answers, however, Of
ficials agree that the first step must be to
define more clearly the areas where regional
action is needed.
For years, formal agreements have ex-
listed between official agencies Of the Metro
politan Area involving specific administra-
tive problems but few efforts have been
made to look at health and welfare pro-
grams in terms of the growing region. During
the last few months, public health and
welfare officials of the various jurisdictions
have been tackling this job. Acting indie
pendently, medical societies and private or
CARNATIONS also have met regularly with
neighboring groups to coordinate their
programs.
Thus far the public officials have CEN
tered their attention on such varied subjects
as area-wide hospital needs, and problems
of the sged the mentally i'll, the physically
handicapped and the juvenile delinquent.
Let's take look at how some of these sub
jects At into the metro picture.