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Dr. Henshaw made a report of his visit of inspection to the tuberculosis sanitarium. No action was suggested. Nominations of Dr. H. Yokum as Health Officer of Randolph county, and Dr. J. A. Campbell of Raleigh county were read, and the secretary was directed to issue certificates of appointment. Adjourned.

CLARKSBURG, W. Va., December 5, 1917. The Council convened at 10 A. M. in the assembly hall of Hotel Waldo to hold a conference of health officers. All the members were present except Dr. Clark. Thirty health officials and visitors were present. The following program was carried out:

“Organization and Ethics”. "Poliomyelitis".

.DR. F. F. FARNSWORTH
.DR. G. G. HULL

"Typhoid Fever Prophylaxis", DR. W. H. RILEY, District Health Officer, Cumberland, Maryland.

"The Control of Acute Infections".

.DR. HAROLD B. WOOD

"The Hygienic Laboratory's Function in Promoting the Pure Food Movement

in West Virginia"...

"Opportunities for Part-time Health Officers".

DR. ARTHUR LEDERER
DR. W. T. HENSHAW

"What Service Can the Local Health Officer Render to Public Health and

Modern Medicine".

"The Difficulties of a County Health Officer"

.DR. W. M. BABB .DR. M. M. REPPARD

These papers were very freely discussed. The conference adjourned. At 7 P. M. the Council met in executive session. The grades of those who were examined Nov. 21st-23rd were presented, and certificates were awarded to the following who made the necessary grade:

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The above are all regular physicians, and I B. Crow, osteopath.

The following resolution offered by Dr. Churchman was adopted:

RESOLVED: That the Commissioner of Health notify the different county courts and the Health Officer of each county and municipality that owing to the law providing for a school of instruction requiring the attendance of every county and municipal health officer at least once a year at these meetings, a record shall be kept and should any county or municipal health officer absent himself from two meetings in succession, he shall be removed from office and a successor be nominated by the county court or municipality.

Dr. Churchman also offered the following which was unanimously adopted: WHEREAS: There has been considerable dissatisfaction with the location of the State Hygienic Laboratory at Morgantown on account of its inaccessibility, and its long distance from the offices of the State Department of Health, therefore

be it

RESOLVED: That the laboratory committee and the Commissioner of Health are hereby authorized to secure suitable rooms in Charleston, and that the laboratory be removed to that city as soon as convenient.

On motion of Dr. Jepson it was resolved that hereafter osteopathic applicants for licensure shall not be examined in surgery.

The President announced the resignation of Mr. A. A. Cook, laboratory chemist and he and Dr. Henshaw were appointed to visit Morgantown with authority to take such action in filling the vacancy as may be necessary.

Dr. Henshaw suggested that a sanitary survey of one of our counties be made, and he and Dr. Jepson were given power to act in the matter, the president being ex-officio a member of the committee.

Adjourned.

April 24, 1918.

The Council met at Hotel Frederick, Huntington, as a school of instruction for health officers. All of the members of the Council, and fifty-seven health officers and visitors were present.

The following program was carried out:

1. "Mental Impairment and the Commonwealth",

Dr. L. V. Guthrie, Supt., Huntington State Hospital. Discussion: Churchman, Yokum, Farnsworth, Guthrie. 2. "What I Have Found in the Examination of 800 Conscripts", Dr. O. B. Beer, County Health Officer, Upshur County. Discussion: Jepson.

3. "The Sanitary Condition of Mine Camps”,

Dr. Tunis Nunemaker, County Health Officer, Mingo County.
Discussion: Thompson, Tisdale, Farnsworth.

4. "Needed Amendments to Our Public Health Law",

E. S. Tisdale, B. S., Assistant Engineer, State Health Department.
Discussion: Jepson, Gaynor.

5. "Illustrated Lecture on Rural Sanitation",

Dr. L. N. Yost, County Health Officer, Marion County

6. "Sanitation and Labor Power",

Hon. S. B. Montgomery, State Commissioner of Labor,

Discussion: Yost, Jepson, Farnsworth, Gaynor, Pyle, Lawson, and
Campbell.

7. "The Health Officer and His Problem",

Dr. H. A. Brandebury, ex-Member State Board of Health.

Discussion:

Cole.

8. "The Health and Welfare of the Railroad Employee”,

Dr. E. M. Parlett, Chief Safety and Welfare Bureau, B. & O. R. R. (Dr. Parlett absent. His paper read by Dr. Cole.)

9. "Venereal Prophylaxis",

Dr. Snell, U. S. Army.

Discussion: Jepson, Campbell, Snell.

10. "The Sanitation of Rural Schools",

Hon. M. P. Shawkey, State Superintendent of Schools,
Discussion: Jepson, Tisdale, Farnsworth.

11. "The Sanitary Control of the Common Infections".

Dr. S. L. Jepson, State Commissioner of Health.

On motion of Dr. Holroyd, the president was authorized to appoint a committee of three to serve in cooperation with a like committee of the State Medical Association in efforts to secure medical legislation. The committee was Drs. F. F. Farnsworth, V. T. Churchman and E. H. Thompson.

The Public Health Council met in executive session at Hotel Frederick, Hunting, 10 A. M., April 25th, all the members being present. Dr. E. H. Thompson, of Bluefield, appointed in place of Dr. Clark resigned, was present for the first time. The salary of the laboratory chemist was increased to $1,200 per annum from May 1st.

On motion of Dr. Henshaw, the Commissioner was authorized to employ a special attorney to prosecute a case at New Martinsville against a chiropractor, the prosecuting attorney declining to enter suit.

The secretary made a report of the Elkins typhoid outbreak and the neglect of the city health officer to report the cases. On consultation with the attorney general, the opinion was given that since municipal councils and not the Public Health Council appoint local health officers, this council has no authority to remove such officials, but it has the authority to remove county health officials. The following resolution presented by Dr. Pyle was adopted:

RESOLVED: That no reciprocity regulations be maintained with any State Examining Board which recognizes graduates from any medical school below the grade of B of the American Meidcal Association.

On motion of Dr. Henshaw it was

RESOLVED: That the verereal diseases, syphilis, gonorrhoea and chancroids be hereafter included in the list of reportable diseases.

It was resolved to make a sanitary survey of the county of Braxton as early as possible, and that an opening health meeting be fixed for Sutton.

Adjourned.

S. L. JEPSON, Secretary.

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I have the honor to report the work of the department from July 1st, 1917, to February 14th, 1918, the date of my resignation to accept a position with the New York State Board of Health.

This, the second year of the existence of the division, began with an outlook of much needed work for the detection and the detention of the numerous cases of communicable disease in the state. An enormous amount of work needs to be done in West Virginia before any of the communicable diseases can be brought under effective control. Sporadic outbreaks may be checked, but the high morbidity and mortality of preventable disease will not be reduced until a public realization of the need of effective public health work and the cooperation of the physicians and the public becomes more general and supportive. This implies, as a means to the end that suffering may be lessened and lives saved, that the present laws for the reporting and control of infectious persons must be more effectually enforced, that they cannot be completely enforced until the general public is ready to have its unnecessary disease and loss of life decreased, and that the present laws need supporting by other laws to make them more effective. It means that physicians must promptly report all cases of communicable disease, that their patients should realize the necessaity of this reporting, and should demand that it be done for their protection. It means that the state needs and must have efficient health officers who have the time and the inclination to do effective work. It means that the health officers should receive sufficient remuneration to make this course of action possible. It means that these health officers should be selected according to ability and not by political favofitism.

The needs of the state in its control of communicable disease are definite and immediate. These may be grouped into a greater force for field work, more educational work, and more definite results obtained by specific laws for protecting the public.

The State Department of Health needs sufficient appropriation to permit it to have a greater force of active workers in the field. The division of contagious diseases needs to be separated in its work from all branches of public health work not directly corelated with it, but working with the other divisions of the department, and its duties and activities need to be more definitely established that it shall perform all the work belonging to such a division.

The state needs to be divided into sanitary districts, each to be in charge of a whole-time health officer who is capable of performing all work likely to be given him, including epidemiological and sanitary engineering investigations and educational work. These sanitary supervisors should be appointed after competitive civil service examination. Such an arrangement was provided for in the health law as originally presented, but the legislature of 1915 was not prepared for such progressive legislation.

For the effective control of tuberculosis, county sanatoria, to be built and maintained by a county, or conjointly by counties, is recommended for West

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Virginia, with a provision that such buildings may legally be used for treating other diseases should the State Department of Health so advise.

The people of the state deserve and need the protection offered by a law requiring vaccination against smallpox of all school children of the state in order to be admitted to school.

The mothers and sisters, as well as the men and boys, deserve and need the protection which will utimately result from a state law requiring the reporting of all cases of venereal disease.

The department should have legal authority to condemn and destroy milk and other foods which it has reason to believe are contaminated with the bacteria of communicable disease.

Dr. C. R. Weirich, of Wellsburg, the efficient director of the division of preventable diseases from its establishment, resigned June 30, 1917, to enter the service of his country in the world war for universal freedom and democracy. Lieutenant Weirich, M. R. C., was ordered to Fort Oglethorpe in August.

The entire personnel of the division follows:

Harold B. Wood, M. D., Dr. P. H., Director and Epidemiologist, and Miss Ethel C. Popp, Stenographer.

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