Friday. Help yourself and help your country; buy thrift stamps.. 5.38 6.14 13 Saturday.... Every State, county, and municipality should have a system of vital statistics. 18 Thursday... A diet which includes eggs, milk, peas, beans, and red meat will pre vent pellagra. 19 Friday. Keep a cow if possible, milk is valuable food. 5.44 20 Saturday. Patent medicines will not cure pellagra.... 6.03 5.45 6.01 Fresh-fruit juices are palatable and healthful.. 22 Monday. High wages and work for every one gives an opportunity for all to buy 5.47 5.58 Place yourself under the care of a physician if you have pellagra.... 5.51 5.50 5.52 5.49 29 Monday..... Contagious and communicable diseases should be reported to the local health officer. 5.53 5.47 30 Tuesday.... Eat economically, but eat wisely... 5.54 5.45 "NO HEALTH DEPARTMENT, STATE OR LOCAL, CAN EFFECTIVELY PREVENT OR CONTROL DISEASE WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE OF WHEN, WHERE, AND UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS CASES ARE OCCURRING." FULL-TIME HEALTH OFFICER. Within the past few years the general public has come to realize more fully the importance of sanitation and public-health protection. With this growth of the knowledge of the necessity of public-health work has come a realization of the increasing need for full-time health officers. The term "full-time health officer" is applied to the health official who is not permitted to engage in other gainful occupation, but devotes his entire time to the work of protecting the health of the district, county, or city by whom he is employed. A person who has to engage in some other occupation for a livelihood and who attends to the duties encumbent upon the health officer during spare time can not be expected to render the best service. A competent full-time official who has complete supervision of the health affairs is the best protection for the health of the public that can be obtained. A full-time health officer has many important duties to perform. The presence of cases of communicable diseases must be known before their occurrence can be controlled, hence one of the most important duties of a health officer is to collect statistics as to the prevalence of disease, births, and deaths. In order to combat the disease in a given community it must be known what diseases are occurring and where such cases are located. The public must be educated as to the cause, modes of spread, and prevention of the more common preventable diseases. Inspection of schools and school buildings are a part of the work of health officials. Supervision of the public water supply and sewage-disposal system come under the domain of the health officer. Special campaign direction toward the eradication of the more prevalent preventable diseases in a community require the attention of the full-time health officer. In fact, the work of a full-time health official is very broad and can be extended and developed in many ways. The average rural county in the United States with a population of 30,000 loses at least $60,000 each year from preventable diseases. Would it not be more economical from the standpoint of dollars and cents, not considering the humanitarian standpoint of the saving of needless deaths and unnecessary suffering, to establish full-time health officials in all communities and thus prevent the needless waste of human lives and money? Sunday Columbus discovered America 1492.. 6.06 5.27 13 Monday.. Full time health officers are necessary for the proper preservation of the 6.07 5.25 14 Tuesday.. Do not prepare too much food for a meal and then have it wasted. 6.08 5.24 15 Wednesday. Help conserve the fuel.. 16 Thursday. Ether first used as anesthetic 1846.. 17 Friday.. Every man, woman, and child can buy Thrift Stamps. 18 Saturday. 19 Sunday. How much does your country spend per capita for health protection?. Sale of alcohol forbidden in Russia until end of war, 1914. 22 Wednesday. Education of the public to the importance of public health work is necessary. 23 Thursday... Contagious and communicable diseases are unnecessary. Report A Liberty Bond in the pocket is worth a half dozen flags on the coat.. 6. 18 5. 10 27 Monday.. President Wilson signed Public Health Reserve act. 6.21 5.06 28 Tuesday. 29 Wednesday. Have a competent physician examine you at least once each year.. 30 Thursday. Many serious diseases begin very insidiously. 31 Friday... Honorable W. G. McAdoo, Sercetary of the Treasury, born 1863. PERIODICAL PHYSICAL EXAMINATIONS. Among the many valuable things emphasized by public-health workers within the past few years is the necessity for periodical physical examinations for all persons. There are many serious diseases whose beginnings are insidious and not noticeable to the average person. If such diseases are recognized in time, many such conditions can be arrested or improved by proper treatment. The practice of having periodical physical examinations at intervals of six months or one year is to be strongly recommended to every person interested in the preservation of health. Consult your family physician about it. HOOKWORM DISEASE. Hookworm disease is a condition due to the presence in the intestines of small worms. These worms are about the size of No. 8 sewing thread and vary in length from one-quarter to one-half inch. Hookworm disease is more prevalent in the warmer climates, the Southern States of our own country having many cases of this disease. The hookworms gain entrance into the body through the skin. Mud or dirt which has been contaminated by the intestinal filth from persons who have the disease are the means of spreading the infection from one person to another. From this contaminated mud or dirt the worms bore through the skin, producing an intense itching which is variously termed "ground itch," "toe itch," or "dew poiWithin about six weeks after going through the skin these little worms appear in the intestines where they attach themselves to the wall of the intestine. Each worm draws a drop of blood each day, makes a small ulcer, injects a small amount of poison, and lays 300 to 3,000 eggs each day. The eggs are thrown off in the bowel discharges and are likely to infect other persons unless subjected to proper disposal. son. Persons who are affected with hookworm disease are pale, anemic, lack energy, and complain of indigestion. The diagnosis is made by a microscopic examination of the stools. The treatment is simple, safe, and effective, and can be given by any qualified physician. Hookworm disease is prevented by proper sewage disposal; that is, by the construction and use of sanitary privies or water-closets. In districts where hookworm disease is prevalent children should wear shoes during rainy weather to protect against infection from the mud. A "carrier" is a person who, although apparently healthy, harbors the germs of a certain disease in his body and is constantly throwing off these disease germs in the discharges from the body. A typhoid "carrier" is constantly throwing off typhoid germs in the bowel and urinary discharges from his body. A "carrier" of diphtheria, meningitis, or infantile paralysis throws off germs of these diseases in the discharges from the nose and throat. A malaria "carrier" has the malarial organism in his blood. When bitten by the anopheline mosquito some of his blood enters the stomach of the mosquito; later when the mosquito bites some one else the malarial parasite is transferred from the mosquito to the well person. Chronic "carriers" of venereal diseases are also an important public-health problem. 66 Carriers" are very important factors in the spread of communicable diseases. Health hints and notable events. Sun Sun rises. sets. 4 Tuesday. Hookworm disease is prevalent in practically all the Southern States... 6.27 5.00 6.28 4.59 6.29 4.58 4.57 5 Wednesday. Put all you can into war savings stamps.. 6.31 4.56 6 Thursday. Malarial parasite discovered by Dr. Laveran 1880.. 7 Friday.. Hookworm disease is supposed to have been brought into America by 6.33 4.54 You will never find a better road to prosperity; buy Liberty bonds.. 6.46 4.44 6.48 4.43 21 Friday.. Save sugar every day.. 6.49 4.43 22 Saturday.... All births and deaths for this month should be reported to the local To prevent a cold it is necessary first of all to keep the body resistance at a high point of efficiency. This means that the body machinery should be kept in good order at all times. Good wholesome food in proper amounts, plenty of sleep, the careful attendance to the voiding of the body waste, the taking of regular exercise in the open air, keeping the body clean, keeping the mouth and nose clean, the avoidance of hot, stuffy, dusty rooms, the avoidance of exposure to sudden changes of temperature, the prevention of the chilling of the body either by cold or wet are all protective measures. It should be borne in mind, however, that even robust persons may contract colds from people who have them. The germs of colds leave the body in the secretions of the mouth and nose. They enter the body through the same route. (Surg. W. C. Rucker, United States Public Health Service.) |