The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

July, 1927 The Health Bulletin 23
L
is led to believe them well versed in
the ways of life. So much has been
said and written in recent years about
this subject that it is amazing to find
so frequently a young mother or a
young father totally ignorant of the
deep underlying principles of life, love,
and human conduct. I confess with
shame that the average physician is
too little of a counsellor about matters
not strictly medical, and it must devolve
upon you then to supplant his
weakening efforts in this particular
line.
Your next task follows prenatal care,
and is, quite naturally, infant welfare.
Upon this subject the medical men are
more competent than in prenatal care,
because mothers for some reason seem
more disposed to cooperate with the
doctors about a child born than one
yet unborn. But there is yet a woeful
amount of ignorance in the world.
Babies born with sound bodies of
parents with sound bodies are much
handicapped because of poor care and
poor food. You cannot conscientiously
say to a bereaved mother grieving for
her babe, "The Lord chasteneth whom
He loveth," when you know the milk
should have been pasteurized or the
windows screened for flies. The mother
should have been told of these things
long before it was too late and you
have just as important a place here as
the doctor : for you come even more
intimately into contact with the family
life than he does. The proper preparation
of formulae, proper dressing and
exercises, proper hours of play and
sleep; all these are very important and
come well within your domain.
Following our growing infant along
life's way, we come to the next time
when you are needed, at the pre-school
and early school ages. The number of
poorly nourished children exceeds the
properly nourished. There are not
enough cows in this rural community
to provide a daily quart of milk to
every child. Children come to school
not only undernourished, but with poor
teeth, large adenoids and tonsils, ocular
defects, deafness, postural defects.
You should be always militant in fighting
that these things be bettered or
prevented. A balanced diet, sleep in
well ventilated rooms, proper clothing,
proper exercises and habits you can
advise and urge. And as you win the
respect of the parents, they will follow
your advice, for I again assure you
that you come into an even closer contact
with the family life than the doctor
himself.
Any discussion of your part in such
work as the Schick test, and toxin
anti-toxin administration, the Dick test
and the vaccination against whooping
cough, smallpox, and typhoid fever are
too well understood for any mention
here.
I now pass on to a large, ill-defined
group of activities which for a better
name I have called the border aspects
of hygiene and sanitation, for which
you must be apostle and priestess. To
do this you cannot be ignorant of them.
It is not enough for you to know how
to make a sick bed, give baths, take
the temperature, pulse and respiration
and administer medicine. There are
other fields of help waiting for you
that are just as important, just as
necessary, and just as able to give
you that "Well done, thou good and
faithful" sensation. A nurse's life
should have a little of the militant,
she should feel within, I am the captain
of my soul, the master of my
destiny, but, too, she should have this
characteristic tempered by altruistic
ideals for self-education. The "build
thee more stately mansions, O my
soul" idea. William Cullen Bryant
once said of Edgar Allan Poe that he
did not know much, yet we admit Poe
was a genius. You or I have no stamp
of genius to cover our ignorance, so
you must know your subject the
best
you can.
Finally, you must remember that a
human life is a precious thing, and
that you must forever seek to cherish
and brighten its fiows. I would have
you always think of Othello's mournful
words as he smothered Desdemona
;
"But once put out thy light, thou cunningest
pattern of excellent nature, and
I know not where is that Promethean
heat that can thy former light again
relume."
This is but a brief outline that I
have given you, but it will serve to
remind you of your noble share in our
high common calling. Your duty shines
clearly before you, like the cross before
the pilgrim's eyes.