Prevention

“ No suffering, no expense, no effort would have been too great could he but be assured that his offspring might be freed from these results.
13. Prevention Better than Cure.—Here is a case where the old adage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," may be aptly applied. Our desire would be to herald to all young men in stentorian tones the advice, "Avoid as a deadly enemy any approaches or probable pitfalls of the disease. Let prevention be your motto and then you need not look for a cure." ”

“ Consequently I came to the conclusion that it is far more important that men, women, and children should be taught the laws of health and to understand the causes of the prevailing deformities and diseases, and how to shun them, than it was for them and their children to get sick, deformed, and suffer, and often to pay their hard-earned money to doctors for the uncertain chance of being cured—in fact, that "an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure." ”

“ Believing that the diffusion of knowledge for the prevention of disease is quite as noble a work as the alleviation of physical suffering by medical skill, we have devoted a large portion of this volume to the subjects of physiology and hygiene. ”

“ The most important aid in the future to the influence of preventive medicine must be the education of the people so that the conditions of disease, the intrinsic and the extrinsic causes and the manner in which these act, shall all become a part of general knowledge, and the sympathy of the people with health legislation and their active assistance in carrying out measures of prevention may be obtained. ”

“ Habit, both of thought and action, is exceedingly powerful. I will, therefore, confine myself chiefly to those efforts at prevention, from which much more is to be hoped, in the present state of society, than from direct attempts at cure. ”

“ In prevention, by what we might call social betterment, it is sought to reach the will, heart or judgment of the individual by altering the strength or direction of some of the forces of his social environment, or by transfering him to new surroundings. ”

“ We have learned to appreciate the true value of hygienic principles in the prevention of diseases of the epidemic type; and the medical profession, throwing aside all selfish recollections, has been the first to teach the practice of these principles and to prove their force and vitality. The next step in the way of advancement is to demonstrate that the same principles are as useful and as necessary in the treatment of actual disease as they are in prevention. ”

“ Baptiste to this man, a sturdy Breton, who had not been affected by the drugged soup.
"Yes, thank you, sir," he replied; "there's nothing the matter with me."
"Won't you take a dose of the medicine as a precaution? Prevention is better than cure."
"Not for me the filth. Time enough for medicine when one is ill, and not much good it does then if we may judge from the results on this unhappy vessel." ”

“ Prevention Plan, or Unmedicinal Cure, would have been a better word. Diseases do not want to be let alone; they call loudly for relief—not, though, from their own symptoms, which, in fact, are so many alarm-signals, but from the obstacle which has forced the vital process to deviate from its normal course. ”

“ Prevention is, therefore, primary. Through preventive measures, we help children avoid the pain and suffering of disease and disability; we stop unnecessary spending; and we decrease the number of childhood deaths. ”

“ Having a firm belief in the proverb that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," the author has endeavored, in the succeeding pages, to point out a series of hygienic rules which, if applied to the nursling, can hardly fail to maintain good health, give vigor to the frame, and so lessen susceptibility to disease. ”

“ To urge every individual to go to his or her doctor for periodical health inspections to detect disease in time to arrest or cure it.
9. To urge employers of labor to give their employes these examinations free as a part of their efficiency and welfare program.
10. To encourage philanthropy, now so generously contributing for the care of the sick, to also enter the field of disease prevention which it has so far quite generally neglected.
Human life is our paramount asset. Its conservation should be your paramount issue. ”

“ Nevertheless, a remarkable concensus of opinion established one great result of experience—a result which may be considered the striking practical lesson of the Congress—viz., that it is to sanitation that we must look, not only for the prevention of disease, but largely also for its cure. ”

“ The Local Authorities do not apply the Principle of Curative Treatment wholly, or even mainly, for the pleasure or the advantage of the individual sufferer; what they have in view is the prevention of future evils to the community from the spread or recurrence of the disease, or the continuance of the disability. ”

“ We do not profess to perform impossibilities, but do confidently assert that in the course of a short time the method which we adopt, if fairly carried out, will do more for the promotion of health, elegance of figure, and prevention of disease, than all the medicine which may be administered for the purpose. ”

“ Not only for the sake of the poor children so unfortunately circumstanced, but also for the welfare of the State, preventive measures are imperative. It is an old and a true saying that "prevention is better than cure"—and cheaper too ”

“ IN GENERAL- The Director shall develop a program to provide training for eligible entities on effective strategies for the prevention and control of chronic disease and the link between physical, emotional, and social well-being. ”

“ It is very fitting, therefore, that the efforts be recognized of medical researchers and practitioners throughout the country, other health professionals, and voluntary organizations working so hard toward achieving this goal of prevention. ”

“ It follows also that, since the cure of advanced cases is impossible and since every case which exists is a menace to the health of the community on account of the danger of the spread of the disease, the prevention is far more important than the cure. ”

“ No attempt is made to show how diseases when originated are to be cured, but, acting on the sound principle that prevention is better than cure, means are stated how to avoid the harm."—Bristol Mercury. ”

“ A new and in many respects a nobler conception of medicine has been developed. Formerly medical practice was almost exclusively a personal service to the sick individual, and measures looking toward the general relief of disease and its prevention received scanty consideration. The idea of a wider service to the city, to the state, to the nation, to humanity rather than the personal service to the individual, is becoming dominant in medicine. ”

“ But prevention is better than cure, and this is best secured by healthy hygienic, physical, mental, and moral surroundings,—by bestowing upon the growing human plant a share of as intelligent a care as the gardener bestows upon his grapes and his peaches ”

“ We have passed from giving mere wholesale advice to a conscientious study of the problems of each unit, and at the same time we have developed a new and sensible approach to mental hygiene and prevention, as expressed in the comprehensive surveys of State and community work and even more clearly in the development of helps to individuals in finding themselves, and in the work in schools to reach those who need a special adaptation of aims and means. ”

“ Should she, out of respect to the resident physicians, decline to practise medicine, still she will have a noble function in the prevention of disease and physical deterioration, and in the assisting of physical development. ”

“ All indications point to much greater accomplishments in the future. We are emerging from an era of custodial care and entering one of prevention, scientific investigation, and highly specialized treatment along entirely different lines. ”

“ The advice of experts is indispensable in framing measures which affect such important subjects as wholesome food-supply, the healthy housing of a people, the prevention and spread of epidemic diseases, etc. Indeed, so important is the connection of a sound body with a sound mind, and so linked together are all classes of society, that common-sense and rational foresight will more and more recognise that health regulations [Pg 71] are a subject of national concern as well as of individual instruction, and the advice of the medical profession will be increasingly needed. ”

“ Notwithstanding all the laws enacted to raise the standard of medicine, and thus protect the public from quackery, there yet exists a disposition among many to cling to all that savors of the miraculous, or supernatural. To insure the future advancement of the healing art, physicians must instruct mankind in Physiology, Hygiene, and Medicine. When the people understand the nature of diseases, their causes, methods of prevention and cure, they will not be easily deceived, and practitioners will be obliged to qualify themselves better for their labors. ”

“ The proverb that "Prevention is better than cure," to which everybody gives unhesitating assent, but which is often forgotten in practice, lies at the root of most of the reforms, both moral and physical, effected by the Tootmanyoso. ”

“ The furnishing of personalized health advice and a referral, as appropriate, to health education or preventive counseling services or programs aimed at reducing identified risk factors and improving self-management, or community-based lifestyle interventions to reduce health risks and promote self-management and wellness, including weight loss, physical activity, smoking cessation, fall prevention, and nutrition. ”

“ Pecuniarily, the results of properly-applied sanitary law would be immensely successful; the cent of prevention would be more than worth the dollar of cure. It is estimated that from a half to three-fourths of the inhabitants of our principal cities are sick some time during each year of ordinary salubrity. ”

“ Indeed, the golden age of preventive medicine has but recently had its dawn, and sanitarians at the present day often encounter great difficulty in convincing legislators and the public generally of the importance of the measures which have been proved to be adequate, when properly carried out, for the prevention of this and other infectious maladies. ”

“ Combe: “The little regard,” he says, “which has hitherto been paid to the laws of the human constitution, as the true basis on which our attempts to improve the condition of man ought to rest, will be obvious from the fact, that, notwithstanding the direct uses, to which a knowledge of the conditions, which regulate the healthy action of the bodily organs, may be applied in the prevention, detection, and treatment of disease, there is scarcely a medical school in this country (Great Britain) [4] in which any special provision is made for teaching it.... ”

“ "Prevention is better than cure," and I would rather help people to abstain from killing and wounding each other than devote the money to patch up their wounds after the battle. ”

“ In most other forms of disease, individuals may [Pg 6] exercise their own judgment or preferences in the selection of medical attendants, nurses, and such appliances as may be thought necessary to comfort and recovery; they more or less fully realize their own condition and requirements, are capable, in some measure at least, of controlling their desires and feelings, and of explaining their experiences, and are generally influenced by such favorable indications as may arise in the progress of their diseases. ”

“ If he finds his patient has brought disease upon himself by sin, by drink, by overwork, by over-eating, by over-anything, it is his duty to say so plainly and firmly, and the same with regard to the treatment of children by their parents; the family doctor should forewarn them; he should explain, as far as he is able and they can comprehend them, the Laws of Health, and so tell them how to prevent disease, as well as do his best to cure it. What a great and rich field there is here for our profession, if they and the public could only work well together! ”

“ If the art of keeping a community in health is but the application of plain physiological laws, it is no less true that the art of restoring the health, curative as distinct from preventive medicine, rests upon the same basis. In former days the physician was one who recognized what he called the disease of his patient, who referred to his books of precedents as a lawyer to his statutes, and who prescribed a proper remedy to cast out the disease. We now know that disease is, as the name implies, a purely subjective conception. ”

“ A knowledge of the duties which we owe to society, resulting from the relation in which we stand to one another, is an object of the next importance. After this, whatever relates to the welfare of the body deserves our most immediate concern.—Life, when burdened with disease, is but a complication of woes. Health is that choice seasoning which gives a relish to all our enjoyments. As the end of medical science is to restore and preserve health, the welfare of every individual, of whatever age or sex, is concerned in the improvement of it amongst them. ”

“ Consider first the average American household, where the family physician cannot call every day. Not a day finds this household without the need of information in medicine or hygiene or sanitation. More efforts of the profession are thwarted by ignorance than by epidemic. Not to supplant the doctor, but to supplement him, carefully prepared information should be at hand on the hygiene of health—sanitation, diet, exercise, clothing, baths, etc.; on the hygiene of disease—nursing and sick-room conduct, control of the nervous and insane, emergency resources, domestic remedies ”