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

—
October, 1927 The Health Bulletin
position to profit by the experience of
the Northern and Mid-west industrial
centers.
Everywhere in industry there is a
growing demand not only for the physical
examination of industrial workers
but for their periodic reexamination
both in the interest of the workers and
of the industry itself. The physicians
of these new industrial communities in
the South may expect then to receive
a demand for health examination service
from the growing industries and
they can make a most solid and farreaching
contribution to the public
health by preparing themselves to deal
with this resixtnsibility in an adequate
manner.
Conclusion
If the health examination is to become
a recognized and permanent institution
in the field of medical science,
and if it is to reach any considerable
number of the population it will be
only and because the general practitioner
takes it to his heart and makes
it his own. It is not and never will be
a happy hunting ground for specialists,
but on the other hand the well informed
practitioner, able to recognize
or suspect trouble in any region of
the body, will insure his patients receiving
such specialized diagnosis as
they may require. It should always be
impressed upon the public that a physical
examination in itself is worth nothing.
It is upon the intelligent followup
of the information secured that
its value depends. It is a somewhat
trite saying, but one that is apropos,
that we get out of anything only what
we put into it. If the general practitioner
will put into health examinations
his brains and his experience, not
only he but the public will be rewarded
many fold.
COD-LIVER OIL AND SUNSHINE TO PREVENT RICKETS
It is said that cod liver oil contains
the healing properties of the ultraviolet
rays of the sun. These properties
are necessary in preventing the development
of rickets in children.
Rickets is a disease in which there
is a disturbance of nutrition. These
nutritional disturbances prevent a sufficient
deposit of such elements as lime
and phosphorus which are necessary to
good bone formation. Children developing
rickets have thus been deprived
of these elements ; and in addition to
the development of some form of
rickets children thus deprived of these
elements are likely to suffer from very
early teeth decay.
Parents of young children should
know definitely the value of cod liver
oil and sunshine. Parents of such children
should consult freely with their
physician or with baby specialists for
detailed instructions in order to see
that their babies are not deprived of
these elements. It is well for these
questions to have careful attention in
the months of September and October,
because with the coming of shorter
days and longer, colder nights, the
tendency to keep babies indoors more
and therefore deprive them of the
health giving rays of the sun is more
pronounced. Naturally the parents think
that by keeping their children bundled
up in too many clothes when they are
sent out or keeping them indoors a
greater length of time than they should,
that they are protecting their children
whereas the opposite effect is the result.
The two extreme classes of the
people that suffer most from these
defects are the very rich and the very
poor. The very rich child is over-protected,
and the very poor child is underfed
and poorly housed. To receive the
benefit of these invisible rays of the
sun, or as they are called, the ultraviolet
rays, it is necessary to be out in
the sunshine, because these rays do not
pass through ordinary window glass.
Milk, which contains two of the
vitamins which promote the growth of
babies and helps somewhat to prevent
rickets, varies considerably in its protective
value with the seasons of the
year. This is true no matter on what
kind of food the cow is fed.
Expectant mothers should receive
well balanced diets, abundant in green
vegetables, and fruit with plenty of
fresh cow's milk, and in addition to the
diet they should spend all available
time in the open air and sunshine.