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Show Ianfed in Montana: irtiblie Health Nuraei r'i HI - ' ; i J - , -v- Jfr ST33 Jt.JLA P. Cy?AAJ-jL . i ; 1 F you want to see a dug- Tj W out, don t go to France, go ! 1 to Montana, j? J Scores of Montana fam-I fam-I 1 ilies, father, mother, and sometimes wee babies, live , in dugouts very similar to those which sheltered our soldiers in :he thick of the fighting in France. And the life of these families here in America, especially Of mothers and children, is almost as difficult and dangerous as that of the soldier boys. These facts and stories of the life of these present-day pioneers out West, have just been made public by the children's bureau. Homes seventy o one hundred miles from a railroad, without telephones, where trails are difficult dif-ficult and good roads almost unknown, are described in the report, which tells of the mothers and babies who suffer unnecessarily and sometimes die because be-cause the nearest doctor may be fifty r more miles away and there is no public health nurse. Many things are needed to bring enmtort and even safety to these families. fam-ilies. The first of these, according to the children's bureau, is the public health nurse. And the people of the county studied agree with tills recommendation. recom-mendation. Since the visit of the agents of the children's bureau they have sent this petition to their board of county commissioners: "We earnestly petition the board that they appoint a county nurse whose services shall be given to the western half of county. The legislature of 1917, by the enactment of the child-.velfare child-.velfare law, empowered you to make this appointment. Because of the war, physicians were called to the service of their country and large sections of the county are left without medical attention, at-tention, which will render the services of a nurse more necessary than before be-fore in giving health supervision to school children, and protecting the health of the community from infec tious diseases. With such t nurse, who could make her rounds by automobile, the lives of the people of the district would be much safer. Isolated liomes in Montana. So isolated ire many of the settlers at present that Illness and even death may find them alone and without the possibility of securing help. Especially Especial-ly dangerous is the occupation of mother moth-er out In thrt pioneer country. At present, becaus'e" of the bad roads and great distances and also because of the expense, inoth&r after mother has no doctor and no nurse at the time when her babies ars born. She goes through her fight for Lfe a fight as big and as Important as that of a soldier on the battlefield- in the crude surroundings of her dugout of mud and wood, or her "taraper" shack, sod or gumbo-clay hotae, without help or only with the help of an untrained member of the family or of a neighbor. For a doctor is a luxury to the pioneers pi-oneers of Montana and almost impossible impossi-ble to get. In all the district of 5,500 square miles studied by the bureau there was not a single hospital, only three registered physicians, and not one public health or "traveling" nurse. "My husband rode horseback 12 miles in a bad snowstorm for the doc- "tor, but he was away," says one mother. Another husband left at noon to get a physician, but was lost in a storm and did not get back until six o'clock the next morning. Mail is no more certain than the roads or the weather. One mother wrote three months in advance to engage en-gage a physician who did not receive her letter until a week after the baby-was baby-was born. Mall in this region is delivered de-livered to a few central post offices only two or three times a week, and then it Is often delayed for weeks or months. It is a common complaint that winter underwear ordered in the fall doesn't arrive till spring. As might be expected from this lack of health protection for her mothers, Montana has a bad list of casualties. More mothers in proportion to the entire en-tire number of women die in Montana than in any other state in the Union. Children are less safe, too, in this part of Montana than in other western states. "Winter weather," said one mother who lived 45 miles from a doctor, "makes us prisoners. I can't tell you how I am worrying about the winter, for if my baby should get sick I'd be helpless." Another mother had to take a child who had appendicitis more than 125 miles to the nearest hospital for an operation. One five-day-old baby became ill at a time when the big dry creek had j overflowed its bunks and there was no way to cross it. Therefore, no physician phy-sician could be sent for. In another case, the nearest physician, phy-sician, who lives eight miles from the 1 family, was away when its eighteen-day-old baby fell ill. and when the next doctor, who lived 25 miles away, was sent for he did not arrive until after the baby's death. Cases of accident which might be easily treated in a city or in a country district which had adequate health fa- i cilities, are difficult to care for In a community without such safeguards. In this district, for instance, a pin lodged in a child's throat, and the child had to be taken 125 miles to have it removed. Need of Trained Nurses. A public health nurse, with an automobile, auto-mobile, could do much for the protection protec-tion both of children and mothers, mainly through educating them in caring car-ing for themselves and their children. In cases of Illness, too, she could help the overworked physician, staying with I the Invalid longer than he could and supplying that expert nursing care so Important in curing Illness. The story of how one cotlntry community com-munity organized to protect Itself against disease, and to guard the health of Its members Is described by a secretary of the national organization organiza-tion for public health nursing. In this community, in southwestern Iowa, a number of counties handed together to supply a modern hospital training school for nurses, but they also provided pro-vided for health supervision of children chil-dren in all the county schools, free dispensaries for school children; for tuberculosis; child welfare stations, and health and social service centers under trained public health nurses. it '-ii- K---t t . , J Organizations, including "churches granges, lodges, etc., joiued this health service by paying a small fee and their members are thereupon cared for byi the hospital medical staff free, in addition ad-dition to the other care which they! get through the dispensaries. Tha service is managed by a board con-, sisting of representatives of these va rious organizations. Even in states where such a complete com-plete health organization is not possible, pos-sible, at least rural public health nursing nurs-ing may be begun, and the national organization for public health nursing is urging country communities to undertake un-dertake this work. In a number of states, legislation has already been passed allowing county officials to employ em-ploy public health nurses for the bene- tit of the people. If there is no legislation legis-lation of this kind, a group of farm men and women can at least ralso funds among themselves for such a nurse. Her salary will be saved In the. disease which she prevents. The suffering suf-fering which she helps assuage is beyond be-yond estimation. The national organization, whose offices of-fices are at 150 Fifth avenue, Nev7t York, is helping farm communities to make surveys of what public health nursing they need, and to secure nurses after funds have been raised. Miss Ella Phillips Cramlall, has served serv-ed as the executive secretary of tho national organi'.at ion for public health iim-;ii'f since its formation in Chicago In 1912. I Hiring the war Miss Crandall, loaned loan-ed by the national organization, acted as the executive secretary of the nursing nurs-ing committees of the council of national na-tional defense. She has now returned to her work In New York, and Is di recting the campaign to raise a large scholarship fund to enable nurses returning re-turning from war work to take courses in public health nursing and enter at once this new field of service. Miss CnindnU was at one time on the staff of teachers' college of Columbia university, uni-versity, and Is still special lecturer in the department of nursing and health. The national organization for public hcullh nursing was formed for tha purpose of standardizing public health work, providing courses for the training train-ing of public health nurses, and serving serv-ing as n central bureau of advice and information. Public health nursing, according to Miss Crnndiill, has been given a great impetus by the war. "The public health nurse stands for the socialization socializa-tion and equal distribution according to need of nursing ejtre," Miss I'randall says, "and is therfore in direct lino with the democratic Ideals of war and reconstruction." |