Show 0 BY RADFORD burdeau special to the park record 1 washington sept 10 in five hundred and live five rural counties in the united states uncle sams medical men are keeping a personal direct and watchful eye on the health ot of the citizens in those counties the death rate has been reduced fewer babies die in infancy f ricy infectious diseases have been reduced or eliminated time lost from work because of illness has been cut down and the dollars and cents prosperity of the communities has been enlarged those are some of the tangible results which have followed the appeal of yakima county Witz washington hington in 1911 to the U S public health service tor for aid in com batting a typhoid fever epidemic in those inose every part pan of 01 me country had its typhoid outbreaks but nobody did very much about them the citizens or of Yakima decided to do something very concrete about this particular epidemic and when their resources were exhausted they turned to the federal government the result was the establishment lish ment ot of the first county unit ol of what Is now the services rural sanitation division dr L L lumsden the veteran ol of thousands of fights like that in yakima who directs the system says there are 2600 2500 counties that should have this service and the day Is not far distant be belie believes v es when the federal government wll will 1 rea realize 1 ize this president hoover himself Is an ardent sponsor of a bill introduced last session of congress by rep cooper ohio which would give the service a year instead ot of the or about one tenth that amount which it has to spend this year how does the rural sanitation unit I 1 I 1 work what does it do tor for your community 1 I 1 answering this dr lumsden said the typical county sanitation system Is a tour four piece unit at the head is a man nearly always with the degree ot of doctor of medicine who is a field agent ot of the public health service he Is also always w ys a county health officer and usually a abate state health officer the field agents salary which runs about 2400 yearly Is paid by federal state and county governments he holds his position under all three and his responsibility Is triple to be successful he must not only be a competent physician but he must combine expertness in preventive work and sanitation with expertness pertness in human relations in other words he has to be a diplomat and know people it if be Is to secure operation cooperation co always essential in the community under him are a sanitary inspector a health nurse and an office clerk all ot of these are full time employed emp loyes and all are paid by and responsible to the three agencies named this varies according to the size of the county and its peculiar pecullar needs and every effort Is IB made to make it eventually a local county organization in every respect As to what it does tor for the individual county individual instances of what it t has done show that better than gener generalities a I 1 dr lumsden said hla his favorite instance Is that ot of walker county alabama the state which leads all others in its operation cooperation co in this work with the federal government since 1913 2913 a full time county health officer has been maintained in walker county such practical matters ot of environment viron ment as installation ot of sanitary privies in every home testing ol of wells elimination ot of mosquito breeding spots spot and similar matters were attacked the individuals in the community were given practical lessons in personal hygiene children and adults were given thorough examinations and told how to correct their detects defects altogether this wort work cost an average ot of the last five years part ot of which was shared by the federal government ern ment dr estimates at least annually has been cut from the countes coun tys doctor bills since 1913 the infant death rate per 1000 births in 1913 was by 1928 1926 it was 60 the death rate per 1000 population tor for nil all causes dropped from 17 to 10 9 in that time this meant SOO less deaths a year in t the he county said dr lumsden for every death prevented by health work bout about ten cases of incapacitating dibease are prevented and the average cost coet ot of I 1 such illness la in was wage lose loaa and expense of the sick would be the hard bard cash value ot of the work therefore Is clear I 1 dr A M waldrop Is the public health service field agent in walker county and the record of the county dr lure lumsden den regards as an eloquent statement ot of his ability another typical county la Is kanawha county W va where the yearly budget is ia in that county alone in three years persons were immunized against smallpox against typhoid and against dip diphtheria theria in addition highly effective measures were taken to I 1 improve M prove sanitation of water milk and other food supplies and especially tor for the hygiene of mothers babies and children of belore before school ago age As a result annual deaths from typhoid ph old dropped from 19 10 to 6 from dip therla from 14 to 1 I scarlet fever from 6 to 0 from tuberculosis from 72 to 42 and the infant mortality rate from 84 deaths per 1000 live births to 48 san joaquin county california has established this service with a budget ot of more than annually perhaps the greatest creates public health project in the world remarkable reductions in death rates from various diseases have been 5 shown hewn at a cost less than before the system was established when the tour four large cities in the county attempted to handle public health through part time 0 officers summarizing the future burden ot of the service dr lumsdon lumsden said eald there are persons in our rural communities incapacitated all the time by illness much of 0 which Is preventable ven table tabla about 70 per cent of the children suffer from physical detects defects nearly all ot of these could be prevented or remedied over 60 per cent ot of the men and women between 40 and 60 years old are in need ot of health aid there Is no room tor reasonable doubt about the need f tor more and better rural health service in this country |