AWAY WITH
, MATTRESS
! YEARS
} ~™
(By Ann Hollinshead)
The physician looked up from
the large negative on bis desk
and into the face of the young
man beside him.
‘It’s tuberculosis all right. Ear
ly stages, though, so you've got
a good chance. But where did
you get it.”
That same question, in much
the same setting, is being asked
of patients throughout this coun
try at least once every five min
utes. At that shocking rate phy
sicians in the United States are
still diagnosing patients as tuber
culosis, and putting that search
ing question to each one of them
—“WHERE did you get it?”
For tuberculosis is now known
to be a contact disease—a disease
caused by a microscopic organism
and passed on to others through
the sputum and nasal discharges
of the sick. Everyone who con
tracts it has been in association
with someone who has it. No one
can possibly get it in any other
way. Separate the sick from the
well, say our leading tuberculosis
specialists, and the disease will at
last be conquered.
From its insidious nature, how
ever. the sick do not always know
thlat they are sick. Here, then,
is the first task of the health edu
cator—to make people aiware of
the four danger signs of tubercu
losis,namely the persistent cough,
unexplainable fatigue, loss of
weight and indignation.
“I wish I d known what I do
now” is the lament of thousands
olf patients in sanatoria today, as
they recall some friend or sweet
heart who showed the^e early
symptoms but who thought noth
ing of them. “If Bill had gone to
the doctor when I begged him to,
I myself would not be spending
these long mattress years here,”
says Bill's wife in many a sana
torium where she is lying on iter
back, curing of tuberculosis. She
has learned the nature of the dis
ease and the fact that with close
contact, infection is inevitable.
The following true story is told
by the superintendent of one of
our largest tuberculosis sanatoria.
Dramatically it warns us all of
the need for constantly being on
our guard against this age-old de
destroyer of human life. A child
of four years died of tuberculosis
recently and the health authori
ties in an effort to locate the
source of infection, examined,
every member of the immediate
family as well as all relatives in
the larger family circle, a total
of thirty-five people. But not one
of them was found to have the
disease, and the authorities were
much perplexed until reports
came to them that three other
young children living in the same
beautiful apartment buildings had
been diagnosed by their physi
cians as being in the early stages
of tuberculosis. Here was a clue
that might lead to the contact.
Someone with utberculosis must
have been in close touch with all
of these young children. After
careful and tactful investigation,
that someone proved to be the
motherly unmarried woman in
her late forties who was always
willing to care for other peoples
children, when pressing errands
or bridge parties called their
parents away. Apparently hale
and hearty, no one but a physi
cian with an X-ray machine woirt°
have suspected her. But actually
the X-ray film showed her to
have a far-advancad tuberculosis
of both lungs.
In a recent editorial in HYGEIA,
popular health publication of the
American Medical Association,
Dr. W. W. Bauer warns us that
in spite of the progress made in
the last thirty years when, tuber
culosis has been brought from
the leading cause of death down
to seventh place, our battle from
now on will be “harder and slow
er because the stiffest part is a
head.’’ Discovering tuberculosis
cases and preventing contact
with them is more than ever of
first importance. Hidden sources
of infection must be found before
we can ever hope to be complete
ly successful.
True, the medical profession has
every means in its possession to
day for diagnosing eases of tub-'
erculoflis—the tuberculin test, the !
fluroflooipe and the X-ray, all
widely used by modern doctors
everywhere. But doctors can do
little or nothing without the ac
tive cooperation of the average
man and woman.
It is this average man and wo-1
man who must be better inform- j
ed about tuberculosis; who must
know that it is still the disease;
causing most deaths among ourj
young people between 15 and 45; ■
who must take himself or herself!
to the doctor at the first signs of
trouble; and who must practice
hygienic living every hour of ev
ery day.
“We have not stressed hygienic!
living sufficiently—or rathor, we
have not yet made it sufficiently
popular,” said a prominent Col
umbia professor recently as she
recalled for her class the careless
etiquette of caferteria patrons
who handle food and return it,
with hands of questionable clean
liness. How easy for the tubercle,
bacillus to reap a harvest under
these conditions!
Fortunate indeed is it that we
have organized groups in this
country to fight tuberculosis in
every corner of that land—fight it j
to a great extent with education!
of the masses, and with tubercu-1
lin testing and X-raying of sus
pected cases. These groups are!
the local tuberculosis associations
w.ho, working with the state as-;
sociation and the National Tuber
culosis Association, are in large
measure responsible for the tre
mendous decline in the death rate
since the turn of the century.
Into the forefront of the fight,!
each year at Christmas time they
send out gay little Christmas
S:.als for our Christmas gifts and
mail, stamps to “stamp out tuber
culosis”. Filled with the true
Christmas spirit of good-will,
these seals make possible new
life and hope for many. Men and
women are urged to buy them
with even greater enthusiasm in
1937 than they did in 1907 when
the first seal appeared in this
country. For today they have
proof of the power of these color
ful bits of paper to overcome an
ancient disease
This year, a jovial town crier
greets the Christmas season via
the seal with the double-barred
cross—a town crier all muffled in
wool, against a wintry scene. As
he lights his way with his Lantern
down the village street, and
swings his merry bell, would that
hi? cry might be, “No more mat
treS; years ahead! Tuberculosis
at laat wiped out of our land!”
How Mining Claims can be
Staked in Alaska, length, Bread- :
th, how many, and the Associa- i
j
don Claim, described in detail, in
pamphlet form, for sale at The
Nugget Office, for 10 cents.
— --
-ti? " "
ALL THE GRANDEUR
OF OLD ACE AND
A GLORIOUS £
Jr
HERITAGE 4
‘ Y' • ' ....-,.• , • ■ ’4 ??A
GOLD LABEL STRAIGHT WHiSKEY —8 YEARS OLD
Bottled Under the Cenedien Government Supervision — Oldetyme Distillers, Inc., N V C.
i
Community Christmas
Tree Celebration
Thursday, December 23rd, 1937.
Benefit Baseball Games
Wed. Dec. 15th
SANTA CLAUS & REINDEER
GIFT STOCKINGS, GOOD
CHEER AT XMAS
l '
—
:
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AGENTS FOR
“Caterpillar piesel Tractors
Power Units
Bucyrus Erie Draglines
Pumps, Generators,
Air Compressors
Bulldozers and \\ inches
Come in and see us and let us show
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Here is one of the many
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at my Salon.—Watch This
space for future announce
ments.
PHYLLIS’ BEAUTY SALON
Licensed Operator
Located Over Polet’s Branch Store on Front Street
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