Department of Public Health

“ The writer can not help thinking that this powerful news organ has. not informed itself thoroughly of the real purpose and function of a federal department of health, and in its attack upon a large body of men such as compose the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the various medical academies of the country, it is certainly misguided. ”

“ The passing of sanitary laws, and the granting to a certain department the power to enforce these laws, will not ensure good public health unless the public at large supports those laws intelligently, and it can only do this through State and municipal sanitary organizations. ”

“ As used in this part, the term:
(a) ‘‘Act’’ means the Public Health Service Act, 58 Stat. 682, as now or hereafter amended.
(b) ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare except that with respect to any action taken prior to April 11, 1953, it means the Federal Security Administrator.
(c) ‘‘Agency’’ means the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare except that with respect to any action prior to April 11, 1953, it means the Federal Security Agency.
(d) ‘‘Department’’ means the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. ”

“ PUBLIC HEALTH INTERVENTION PROGRAM- A State or local health department shall use amounts received under a grant under this subsection to enter into contracts with community health centers or rural health clinics and mental health and substance use disorder service providers to assist in the referral/treatment of at risk patients to community resources for clinical follow-up and help determine eligibility for other public programs. ”

“ When the Health Department recognizes that such diseases as cancer, tuberculosis and those following malnutrition are due generally to ignorance or neglect and that amelioration or prevention will be the result of knowledge, it is the next logical step for this department to devote strenuous efforts to its public relations campaign. The department accordingly does exactly this.
Even governments to-day act upon the principle that it is not sufficient to govern their own citizens well and to assure the people that they are acting whole-heartedly in their behalf. ”

“ When pensions can be earned by medical officers of health and by all medical men on the public health staff, their position will become more attractive for men of good standing; and this reform has become more important in view of the steadily increasing complexity of the medical work now undertaken in a large public health department. It will include inter alia the following officers and activities: superintendent medical officers of health; district medical officers of [Pg 65] health; tuberculosis officers; medical officers of maternity and child welfare centres, of venereal disease centres ”

“ Where the public health administration department fails to report cases of occupational diseases or accidents of occupational disease hazards, as required by regulations, the public health administration department at the next higher level shall order it to make rectification, circulate a notice of criticism, and give it a disciplinary warning. ”

“ The board has jurisdiction over all matters of public health and is composed of the following sub-departments: contagious diseases; medical inspection of schools: sanitary inspection; food inspection; inspection of milk and dairy farms; statistics; municipal laboratories; the municipal medical service. The sanitary inspection department covers the general sanitation of the dwellings, outhouses, lanes, etc. ”

“ Home visitation can be carried out by nurses attached to the dispensary or by inspectors of the public health department. The latter will usually be more competent in detecting and remedying sanitary defects in the home; the former in encouraging the patient to carry out the needed requirements in personal hygiene and nursing. Many visitors are equally competent in both directions; and as the number of women specially trained in tuberculosis work increases this will more generally be the rule. ”

“ Notwithstanding section 101, amounts are provided for `Department of Health and Human Services--Centers for Disease Control and Prevention--Disease Control, Research, and Training' at a rate for operations of $6,369,767,000: Provided, That the amount included before the first proviso under such heading in division D of Public Law 111-117 shall be applied to funds appropriated by this Act by substituting `$0' for `$20,620,000'. ”

“ So the duties and responsibilities of a Health Department are not only changed, but they are very greatly increased and are constantly increasing. And on broad lines to cause the citizen to do the things he can and ought to do, and then to do for him the things that he cannot do, but which should be done, is the duty of the State, and that, being interpreted, means the real prevention of disease. ”

“ That the local administrative body have power to appoint, subject to the approval of the Crown, a medical officer properly qualified to inspect and report periodically upon the sanitary condition of the town or district, to ascertain the true causes of disease and death, more especially of epidemics increasing the rates of mortality, and the circumstances which originate and maintain such diseases, and injuriously affect the public health of such town or populous district. ”

“ The public health administration departments of the local people's governments at or above the country level shall, within their own administrative areas, be responsible for supervision over prevention and control of occupational diseases. ”

“ It is true, the United States government bestows on public health and preventive medicine no where near the attention it finds necessary for the prevention of disease in stock and for agricultural improvement, but none the less there are certain well-organized and efficiently operated agencies which have for their function the improvement of public hygiene and sanitation, the eradication of preventable disease, and the study of causation and methods of control of diseases. ”

“ We believe that every State should have wisely ordered health laws, with officers empowered to enforce them, and also that a National Department of Health should be created, comporting with the dignity and importance of the cause. This department should work effectively for the promotion of the physical and hence the moral and intellectual health of the people. ”

“ The health department of a modern city is charged with a double duty: it has to care for cases of disease, and it has to suggest and enforce laws to keep the city sanitary. The former task—the treatment of sickness—is much more widely recognized as the proper function of the medical profession ”

“ Prevention is the watchword which is being signalled along the line of the medical profession, at the present time, concerning the management of disease. The importance of State Boards of Health in many of the larger States has become so generally recognized, that they are yearly appointed, and make regular reports, with more or less full accounts as to the results of observations in reference to the public health and the prevention of disease, which prove to be of the highest value. ”

“ The State shall promote the improvement of public health by organizing and controlling health services, hospitals, dispensaries, sanatoria, nursing and convalescent homes and other health institutions. ”

“ The Council shall: (a) ⁠ provide coordination and leadership at the Federal level, and among all executive departments and agencies, with respect to prevention, wellness, and health promotion practices, the public health system, and integrative health care in the United States ”

“ The CDC's innovative programs also address our national challenges of chronic disease, workplace and environmental hazards, injuries, birth defects, disabilities, and new infectious threats. In addition, the agency gathers and analyzes scientific data to better monitor public health, provide a solid foundation for decision-making, and detect risk factors. ”

“ An important step in that direction is the proposed formation of a Department of Health under the Federal Government, as contemplated in the bill so ably championed by Senator Owen at the last session of Congress. Our race is a prey to epidemics which extend far beyond State boundaries, arising from causes that often require long-continued and expensive investigations for their determination and their counteraction ”

“ So, as you just heard, we are very excited to be partnering with federally-qualified health centers, also known as community health centers. They do provide really substantial primary care services across many underserved areas. ”

“ The public health and general welfare of the people of the state are hereby declared to be matters of primary public concern. The legislature shall pass suitable laws for the protection and promotion of the public health. ”

“ When research is proposed that involves risks and does not include a therapeutic component, other less burdened classes of persons should be called upon first to accept these risks of research, except where the research is directly related to the specific conditions of the class involved. Also, even though public funds for research may often flow in the same directions as public funds for health care, it seems unfair that populations dependent on public health care constitute a pool of preferred research subjects if more advantaged populations are likely to be the recipients of the benefits. ”

“ The Health Department in its varied work of recording the marriages, births, and deaths, preventing and caring for contagious diseases, disinfecting, sanitary inspection, and the abatement of nuisances, meat and milk inspection, employs a corps of one hundred and thirty men, besides the special summer corps of fifty physicians and the fruit-inspectors and extra disinfectors—requiring an annual appropriation of $250,000. ”

“ Ordinarily nursing facilities utilized in general public health work should be diverted to meet the epidemic situation, and should be used on a district basis, with all other available facilities, under one supervision. ”