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

October, 1951 The Health Bulletin 15Isprayed with DDT. This DDT sprayingProgram is conducted in cooperationwith the Malaria Control Division ofthe State Board of Health which furnishesa truck and the materials forthis work.IV. PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORYSERVICESReference has already been made tothe importance of the laboratory in thePublic Health Program. The laboratoryin the Halifax County Health Departmenthas recently been added and isone of the best equipped laboratories ina local health department in the State.Public Health is a science that requiresexacting procedures in order to procurereliable results. All the laboratory proceduresare conducted free of chargeexcept for pre-marital blood tests forwhich a nominal fee is charged. Thepre-marital blood tests are required byNorth Carolina law, together withphysical examinations, before licensescan be issued.V. HYGIENE OF MATERNITY. IN-FANCY, AND CHILDHOOD, IN-CLUDING SUPERVISION OF THEHEALTH SCHOOL CHILD.I 1. Maternity and Infancy Clinics areconducted at the following points inthe county each month:tHalifax County Health Center, FirstWednesday, at 1:00 P. M.Hobgood Colored School, SecondWednesday, at 1:00 P. M.Enfield City Hall, Second Thursday,at 1:00 P. M.Scotland Neck, Halifax County ClinicThird Wednesday, at 1:00 P. M.Littleton City Hall, Fourth Tuesday,at 1:00 P. M.HoUister Colored School, FourthWednesday, at 1:00 P. M.At these Maternity and Infancy Clinicscomplete examinations are given thepatients attending these clinics.2. Immunizations—Immunizations fordiphtheria, whooping cough and smallpoxare offered free of charge to theinfants in the Maternity and InfancyClinics. The ideal time to begin immunizationfor diphtheria and whoopingcough is during infancy, at aboutthree months of age. Ideally, infantsshould be immunized for tetanus at thissame time. The child should be givena booster immunization for these threechildhood diseases and vaccinated forsmallpox at one year of age and againat six years. Approximately eighty oreighty-five per cent of the deaths fromdiphtheria and whooping cough occurduring the first three years of life;therefore, this is the period of lifewhen the protection is needed mostagainst these diseases.3. Preschool clinics are held eachyear throughout the county, at whichtime preschool children are given physicalexaminations and are given boosterdoses of diphtheria and whooping coughvaccine and vaccinated again for smallpox.North Carolina law requires allchildren to present certificates certifyingthat they have been adequately immunizedfor diphtheria and whoopingcough and adequately vaccinated forsmallpox before they can be admittedto school.4. Considerable work is done in theschools for the children, with the teachers,public health nurses, health officerand family physicians cooperatingin the program. Hundreds of physicaldefects are discovered and corrected annuallyin this School Health Program.Special programs are also conducted inthe schools from time to time, such asthe vision clinics which are held incooperation with the State Commissionfor the Blind and the Lions Clubs. AHearing Conservation Program initiatedby the Roanoke Rapids Exchange Clubis administered in the schools in cooperationwith the Division of OralHygiene of the State Board of Healthand the local dentists. The KiwanisClub and Woman's Club in RoanokeRapids sponsor a special oral hygieneprogram for Roanoke Rapids.5. Orthopedic Clinic—This clinic initiatedand sponsored by the RoanokeRapids Rotary Club meets monthly, thefirst Thursday, at the Rosemary BaptistChurch, Roanoke Rapids, at one o'clockin the afternoon. This is primarily aclinic for crippled children, but persons