ACTIVITIES OF THE DIVISION OF PUBLIC HEALTH EDUCATION AND TUBERCULOSIS DURING

Exhibit. The exhibit was not shown during the month of June, due to lack of funds.

Lectures. The State Supervising Nurse on June 26th lectured on "Problems in Public Health Nursing" before a group of nurses in Galion.

On June 28th the State Supervising Nurse lectured on "Problems in Public Health Nursing" before a group of nurses in Athens. Tuberculosis Hospitals.

Admissions and Discharges. From June 1st to 30th, inclusive, 258 notifications were received, 131 of which were of admitted patients and 127 of discharged patients. Of these, 198 were referred to local public health nurses for investigation and report; I to another State Health Department; 25 were visited by division nurses; II were received whose histories were not obtainable, and 23 were pending investigation.

Of the 168 notifications pending investigation on May 31st, 14 were found whose histories were not obtainable; 2 were sent to a local nurse, and 25 were visited and instructed by division nurses, making a total of 150 notifications pending investigation on June 30th.

NOTIFICATION OF TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS AND DISCHARGES RECEIVED BY THE DIVISION OF TUBERCULOSIS, STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, DURING THE MONTH OF JUNE, 1917.

Actual number 235, three patients reported at two institutions.

charges.

Prevention of Blindness.

The dvision received during June, 175 case reports on inflammation of the eyes of the new born. Thirteen of these cases were visited and in some instances received nursing care by the department nurses. Seven cases received instruction by telephone, while 5 cases were referred to the Prosecuting Attorney.

Nursing Service.

Miss Mabel Smith resigned as public health nurse for London, June 1.

Mrs. Trost, who has been the public health nurse of Zanesville since the first of March, joined the staff of the Visiting Nurse Association of Cleveland. She is succeeded by Mrs. Margaret Gibbons.

Mrs. Josephine Bifoss, who has been in charge of the Public Health Nursing Service of Canton for the past two years, has resigned, as has also one of her assistants, Mrs. Clara Smythe.

On June 18th, Miss Anna O'Hara of Delaware began her work as public health nurse in Portsmouth with the Bureau of Community Service. Miss Virginia Lewis, who is in charge of the public health nursing department of the Bureau, now has a staff of three nurses.

On June 26th, Miss Isabelle Burns left her position as public health nurse of Bowling Green to become Superintendent of Nurses on the Boston Floating Hospital.

Miss Sue McCracken, who has been the public health nurse for Elyria for over a year, has resigned and taken a position in the Elyria Memorial Hospital. Her successor is Mrs. M. B. Morrisy, who has been with the welfare department of the B. F. Goodrich Company, of Akron.

Miss Margaret Purves has resigned as public health nurse of Zanesville to take charge of the View Point Sanatorium, Elm Grove, West Virginia.

On June 30th, Miss Anna L. Sutton, who has been the public health nurse at Washington C. H. for nearly two and a half years, resigned. She is to be succeeded by Miss Louise Ballard.

Miss Viola Fell, formerly public health nurse in Zanesville and Marietta, has been appointed by the Licking County Welfare Association to develop a public health nursing service for that county. She began her work July 9.

Miss Effie Folsom began her work July 12 in Chillicothe where she will be the assistant to Mrs. R. H. Rumer who has had charge. of the nursing service there since 1908.

CONFERENCE OF T. B. WORKERS IN TWIN CITIES.

The fifth annual session of the Mississippi Valley Conference on Tuberculosis will be held at Minneapolis-St. Paul, October 8, 9, and 10, 1917. The program offered this year promises to be the most important one ever arranged owing to the situation created by the war. Many Ohio tuberculosis workers plan to attend this meeting.

HEALTH OFFICERS' ROUNDTABLE

Public Health Survey In Piqua.

A study was made of public health organization and administration in the city of Piqua, O., during the first two weeks of February, by Dr. Carroll Fox, surgeon of the United States Public Health Service, a report of which is published in Public Health Reports of June 22, 1917.

Surgeon Fox makes the following recommendations as the result of his studies of conditions in that city:

1. That a full-time health officer be appointed at not less than $2.000 per annum, whose tenure of office shall depend upon efficiency and whose duties shall be executive, epidemiological, and professional.

2. That there be appointed an inspector for the inspection of milk, meats, and other foods.

3. That the nurse already employed by private charity be transferred to and paid by the health department, and that the health department employ one additional nurse; that both nurses work under the supervision of the health officer and perform all of the duties required of public health nurses, including prenatal and infant welfare nursing, communicable disease nursing, and school nursing.

4. That the health officer be made the local registrar of births and deaths.

5. That the health department be provided with an office.

6. That the health department be provided with a clerk.

7. That the health department and the practicing physicians of the city make greater use of the State laboratory.

8. That a thorough study be made of and a better supervision be maintained over the milk supply of the city.

9. That all of the market milk of Piqua be pasteurized before being offered for sale to the public, and that to insure the efficiency of pasteurization uniform methods be required.

10. That the cooperation of the police force be obtained to investigate nuisances and to issue the necessary orders for their abatement.

11. That all surface wells within the city be eliminated.

12. That water mains and street sewers be extended to all parts of the city as soon as possible, and that all surface privies be abolished.

13. That the health department furnish disinfectants free of charge to families in which there is a case of typhoid fever, and anti-tuberculosis supplies in the case of tuberculosis.

14. That at the expiration of the present contract the city organize its own system of garbage, as well as rubbish, collection, including manure; that the types of wagons adopted be such that they may be used for both garbage and rubbish.

15. That each householder be required to provide a proper garbage can. 16. That the city install as soon as possible a modern method for the disposal of garbage.

17. That the city install without delay a water purification plant. 18. That the educational work of the health department be extended. 19. That automobile transportation be furnished for the use of the milk inspector.

20. That adequate regulations be promulgated by the board of health to

provide for the care and disposal of manure, the regulation of tenement and lodging houses, the maintenance of the purity of foods, and the cleanliness of places handling foods, etc.

21. That all citizens of the city cooperate with the health department in its efforts to suppress disease, and that physicians report promptly all cases of notifiable diseases.

22. That immediate steps be taken toward the erection of a district sanatorium for the isolation of the tuberculosis and a city isolation hospital for the care of other communicable diseases.

23. That not less than $8,500 per annum be appropriated to the health department to defray the expenses incurred in the maintenance of the public health to be spent as indicated in the body of the report.

Opinion of Attorney General.

Estimates of expenses for local health officers and boards of health are subject to review by the county budget commissioners and may be reduced as as well as other items in the budget when this is necessary to bring the total for any taxing district within the limits provided by law.

The council of a municipality must appropriate funds sufficient to pay compensation fixed by the board of health for its employes provided there are funds from which such appropriation can be made.

The above briefly summarizes an opinion given to the State Department of Health by Attorney General Joseph McGhee under date. of July 16 in response to the following questions asked him:

"1. What, if any authority has a municipal or county budget commission to reduce the estimates submitted by a board of health including compensation for employes and other administrative expense?

"2. Is there any procedure whereby council can be compelled to appropriate a sum sufficient to pay the compensation fixed by a board of health for its employees without compelling the individual employe to maintain an action in mandamus?"

As authority for the first proposition the Attorney General cites the case of State ex rel Patterson, 93 O. S., 25 in which it is held that the budget commissioners may adjust the various amounts of taxes to be raised and may reduce any or all items in such budget, and, in the absence of fraud, bad faith or abuse of discretion, it is not within the power of the court to interfere or control the discretion or judgment of such budget commissioners.

As to the second proposition the case of State ex rel. Miller v. Council of Massillon, 20 C. C. (n. s.) 167, is cited in which case the court held that it is mandatory upon council to make the necessary appropriation to meet the expenses of a health officer and a board of health, and that mandamus will lie to compel an appropriation for such salary and expenses under the provisions of Section 4451 G. C.

Toledo Employs Hygiene Expert.

The Toledo Health Department, under the direction of Dr. C. D. Selby is not allowing present war conditions to interfere with local public health work but is making rapid progress along various lines.

A new bureau of industrial hygiene in connection with the city health division was established July 1 in charge of Dr. Paul M. Holmes, of Columbus, formerly assistant physician in the Division of Industrial Hygiene of the Ohio State Department of Health.

Dr. Holmes was selected by the trustees of Toledo University upon recommendation of Dr. Selby. He will make a survey of Toledo industrial concerns and cooperate with employers in the elimination of health hazards in industries with a view to making the city on the Maumee a healthy place in which to live and work.

Toledo recently employed a Public Health Instructor through whose activities the health division is gaining much valuable publicity.

Cleveland Nursing Force Crippled.

Health Officer Bishop, of Cleveland, is enlisting the aid of volunteers to serve part time this summer in city dispensaries to help save babies' lives.

The need of volunteers is made imperative, Dr. Bishop says, by the number of visiting city nurses called for war duty. While the city's allotment of visiting nurses is 75 there were but 57 remaining on duty July 1. It is expected that many more will respond to the nation's call.

"Four hundred babies died last summer who could have been saved," said Bishop. "More will die this summer unless we are able to get volunteer assistants. These need not be trained nurses. The work they will be asked to do is education of mothers in the care of children in hot weather. We will try to assign volunteers to dispensaries near their homes."

Health Officer Bishop has appealed to the Congress of Mothers and other womens' organizations to assist in the local work.

Instructing Milk Producers.

With the object of improving the quality of milk supplied to residents of Delaware, Dr. C. W. Chidester, local health officer, recently exhibited to milk producers a simple, home-made farm steam sterlizer for dairy utensils, designed by the Dairy Division, U. S. Department of Agriculture.

Experiments conducted by the U. S. Department of Agriculture show that unsterlized milk cans, pails, strainer cloths, and separator parts contaminate clean milk and tend to make it sour more quickly; to spoil its flavor; and to give it a high bacterial count by the time it reaches the city. Ordinary washing of utensils is not effective, as experiments show that as many as eight billion bacteria may remain in a washed milk can, and that cans, as ordinarily washed, harbor millions of bacteria which affect all milk placed in them.

The device, which was loaned to the Delaware authorities by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, is that described in Farmers' Bulletin 748. The outfit can be made by tinsmiths at a small cost. When placed on an ordinary range or over a two-burner oil stove, which can be purchased for $5, or less, this apparatus generates steam enough