Municipal health department practice for the year 1923 : based upon surveys of the 100 largest cities in the United States / made by the United States Public Health Service in cooperation with the Committee on Administrative Practice, American Public Health Association.

  • United States. Public Health Service.
Date:
1926
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Municipal health department practice for the year 1923 : based upon surveys of the 100 largest cities in the United States / made by the United States Public Health Service in cooperation with the Committee on Administrative Practice, American Public Health Association. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    diseases of occupations are reported to the health department and records are maintained on file. A survey of factories was made during the year. Public-health nursing.—Supervision of public-health nursing is centralized. The health department employed 540 nurses. Public-health nursing by un- official agencies in New York is developed to a considerable degree of effective- ness.” There is need for an increase in the nursing staff of the health de- partment. Laboratory.—New York City was the first to provide free diagnostic service for physicians suspecting cases of communicable diseases. <A total of 44 diag- nostic examinations per 1,000 population was made during the year, in addition to a large number of bacterial and chemical examinations of milk and water. Extensive research work, for which the New York City laboratory has long been noted, was carried on. The beneficial effects of the research and diag- nostic work done by the bureau of laboratories in New York City is difficult to overestimate. Food.—There were 48,750 producing dairies which were inspected at inter- vals. Tuberculin testing of all cattle producing milk to be sold raw is re- quired. There were 32 dairies producing milk of a certified grade under the -sgupervision of the New York and Kings County medical societies. Over 98 per cent of the milk supply was Pasteurized. The per capita milk consumption amounted to approximately 1 pint per day. Supervision is exercised over all food establishments in the city, and it is required that a physical examination be made of food handlers once a year, either by a physician of the health department or by a private physician. Sanitation.—The sanitary bureau has charge of the abatement of nuisances, of the preservation of wholesomeness of air in all classes of buildings except tenement houses, of the protection of the purity of water supply, of the pre- vention of the breeding of flies and mosquitoes, and of the supervision of the -yarious trades and industries. House-to-house inspections throughout the various boroughs are made in an effort to correct insanitary conditions as well as in the follow-up of citizens’ complaints. Antimosquito measures are under the supervision of the sanitary engineers. Active measures are also directed against rats through surveys and laboratory examination. Public utilities—The public water supply, owned by the city, is treated by sedimentation in lakes or reservoirs, by aeration, and by chlorination. Labora- tory analysis of the treated water showed B. coli absent in 1-cubic-centimeter samples. There were reported to be about 500 wells in use in outlying districts under the supervision of the health department, in addition to 400 individual supplies. Both combined and separate systems of sewerage are employed under the control of various sewage bureaus. A portion of the sewage is treated by screening and sedimentation before discharge of the effluent into the harbor. Public-healith education.—Public-health education is conducted by a medical director. An annual report of 1,000 copies, a monthly bulletin of 5,000 copies, a weekly bulletin of 11,000 copies, and other special bulletins are published. The daily press is utilized, and frequent lectures on health topics are given by the health-department staff. Exhibits illustrating public-health procedures and results have been prepared. Special comment.—As in 1920, it may be well to point out that, while the health administration of the city of New York offers much to praise, the scheme and theory of service fail of the best results from the lack of a sufficiently large trained personnel. Not less than one physician for every 4,500 school children and one nurse for every 2,000 school children are needed in order that 22 Approximately 420 nurses were employed by private agencies.