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Show I I M I I 1 1 I I I 1 I I 1 I M 1 I I 1 I I I I- HOW TO KEEP WELL D3. FREDERICK R. GREEN Editor of "HEALTH" -r-Hr-H-r-H-4H-'H' ! 1 I !'! ((c), 1 9 26, Western Newspaper Union.) THE TELEPHONE AS HEALTH AID 717 HEN we talk of the control ot disease, the reduction of sickness and the lengthening of life, we naturally nat-urally attribute these changes to the discoveries that have been made regarding re-garding the causes of disease and of better methods of preventing them. Yet we must also admit that much of the recent advance in health is due to inventions that at first seemed to have no possible relation to disease control. The automobile was not developed de-veloped on account of its influence on health, yet It has been of great value in improving health conditions. It has brought about better roads, better drainage and easier conditions of transportation and all these things have produced better health. . Just in the same way, the telephone, first invented as a toy and later developed de-veloped as a business convenience, has had a decided influence on health. In 3S7S. there was just one telephone tele-phone in the world the one made and used by Alexander Bell, its inventor. Today there are 16,000,000 in the United States alone. There are 21,000 central telephone exchanges, with 350,000 employees. The 21,000 offices are connected by 25,000,000 miles of wire, over which go each year 18,000,-000,000 18,000,-000,000 conversations. But what has this to do with health? Contrast conditions today wfth those 40 years ago. Suppose a person is taken sick in the middle of the night. Forty years ago there were no home telephones. tele-phones. Even doctors did not have them. In case of sudden illness, some one in the household had to dress and "go for the doctor." It might be around the corner, it might be miles over country roads. It might be through torrents of rain or terrifying blizzards. Sometimes It was hours before be-fore the call for his services could reach the doctor. Even after the pa--tient had been seen and examined, the c ly way the doctor could hear from-his from-his patient was by coming again, at the expenditure of hours of hard travel. Today, even in rural districts, house telephones are common. In a few minutes, day or night, a physician can be called, the patient's condition described, instructions given as to what to do until the doctor arrives. Then the physician can be kept informed in-formed almost hourly as to his patient's pa-tient's condition, prescriptions can be telephoned to the nearest drug store; if it is necessary to take the patient to the hospital, arrangements can be made in a few minutes. If sudden emergency arrives or additional help is needed, the telephone gives us immediate im-mediate service and prompt results." EABY'S BED TpHERE are few things which are really essential for life. Food, of course, either for the young, the ma-lure ma-lure or th& aged ; shelter of some kind; clothing, sufficient to protect the body; finally, and next to food most important of all, is sleep. This is most important, especially In the two extremes of life. The baby, like the young puppy or kitten, sleeps for twenty-two or twenty-three hours each day. This is necessary for health and growth. The restless, uncomfortable uncomfort-able baby, which sleeps fitfully, is 1 greatly handicapped in the fight for I life. I Every baby should have a bed of its own. It needs and should have so much more sleep than any adult or even a half grown child, that it should have its own bed where it can sleep without being disturbed. For many reasons it should not sleep Willi other children. Infections are much more easily spread among children sleeping together than among children sleeping sleep-ing alone. Even in the first few weeks of life the baby should sleep alone. It should never sleep with adults. Instances In-stances of babies being smothered by the mother during sleep are . not uncommon. un-common. Every baby has a right to its own bed. "Now I hat's all right," says the young mother, "for people who can afford to buy while enameled cribs or fancy sleeping baskets for their babies but I can't." Very well, you don't need to. It isn't the while enamel or the pink ribbons or tiie eiderdown comforts com-forts that the baby needs. It's a clean, quiet, restful bed. Simple means are just as good as expensive furniture. An ordinary clothes basket is just as good a bed for a baby as an expensive ex-pensive basket from a oily store. It can be used wiien the haby lias outgrown out-grown it, for ordinary uses. Even this isn't necessary. A pine box is as good as anything else. Line the box or basket with a clean heavy blanket or quilt, spread smooth. Then a clean j sheet, tucked in nil around. Then a ! center strip of rubber F-heetine or ; plain thin while oilcloth to keep the I bed dry, wiih a pad of flannel or flan-! flan-! neietle over llie waterproof shct, will j make as go:tl a lied fr t!se baby as lone thai oois a hantir. l dollars. ' But the box or llat-boi tinned basket or. a linn. solid support where il can't i be upse'. hut not on the floor. That I is bad f.-r babies and hard on mothers' j backs. Give the baby enough cover to keep him warm, but not too warm. Put him to bed and let him alone. |