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

January, 1955 The Health Bulletin 15the cause of health improvement. Wecan protest, and can recommend—andwe should. We should study our problemas a farmer does his land and decidewhich fields would best be plowedand which can most profitably be leftfallow. We can and should take thepublic and public officials, includinglegislators, into our confidence andask for their help in planning; but weshould be frank with them and resistthe tendency to favor always the popularand expedient course.It seems to me, though, that weshould agree on some basic action forthe future. We must recognize thefact that our job in public health haschanged and is changing and will continueto change. We should recognizethe fact that past successes do notjustify our present and future existence.We should not exaggerate ourpast contributions, but, on the otherhand, we should emphasize the possibilitiesfor effective work in the future.We must realize that the work aheadof us may not be so dramatic as thatin the past. We must reconsider ourformer major objective of reducingmortality from specific diseases andcauses, such as pellagra, diphtheriaand the like. Our present objectivesshould include holding the line againstthe return of these diseases that havebecome minor public health problemsand shift gradually to a program ofgeneral health conservation. Helpingpeople to stay out of the hospital, tolead more vigorous and longer livesand to maintain a better mental andemotional balance may not be sospectacular, but it is the job, as Isee it, that remains for public healthto do in the future. We will find ourselvesdoing more and more to makeliving conditions pleasant and enjoyable.For example, we are alreadyspending sums of money in Florida tocombat pest mosquitoes, as distinguishedfrom disease-bearing mosquitoes. Weare paying more attention to publicwater supplies which have had tastesand odors or which discolor laundryor clog pipes. Industrial plants whichgive off unpleasant odors or dust areinvestigated. We are beginning to learnthat to be healthy physically, mentallyand emotionally, we must be happy andcontented where we live.Our criteria for selecting programsof the future should be based notonly on preventing illness and savinglives but also on the newer theorythat they promote health andphysical and mental well-being. Suchprograms as those concerned withchronic diseases (cancer, heart diseaseand diabetes) and mental and emotionaldisturbances, including alcoholism,will be promoted in the yearsto come. In the field of environmentalsanitation, pest mosquito control, atmosphericpollution, stream pollutionand control of allergy-producing substances,I feel will be important. Manyother problems, now unthought of, willcome to the fore and occupy our mindsin the next few years. But I haveenumerated enough to keep all of usbusy for quite a while.NOTES AND COMMENTBY THE EDITORTHE GENERAL PRACTITIONER'SAWARD*At the annual Clinical Meeting ofthe American Medical Association inMiami, Fla., Nov. 29, 1954, the annualEditorial. Vol. 156,Dec. 11. 1954.No. 15. J.A.M.A.General Practitioner's Award, consistingof a gold medal and a citation wasgiven to Dr. Karl B. Pace, who haspracticed medicine in Greenville, N. C.for nearly 40 years except for his militaryservice in World War I. Theselection of Dr. Pace as the typicalfamily doctor of 1954 was announcedat the opening session of the House