T. B. AND THE TEENS
By: Henrietta Ripperger ,
Ferhaps the toughest assignment handed
us today is to protect the health of our
adolescent boys and girls. They are im
patient of restraint. The adult world
is wide open to them. They look big
enough and strong enough to take it,
which they are not. They want to live
the lives of playboys and glamour girls
while also going to school-or holding
dorm jobs. Nature, sometimes an ally on'
whom one can count to do the right thing,
is no help here, simply egging then on
to spend their energies. If they are to
be nrotectcd and brought into healthy
maturity, we have got to do it.
t-ne of the greatest hazards between them
and that healthy maturity, is tuberculosi
No need to repeat here the melancholy
factsj that youngsters 'in their teens
are most susceptible to the infection,
and that "iris are more likely to succumb
tc the disease than boys, and among them,
the ones who marry and have babies-very
youn".. All this makes us realize that
we cannot sit back and feel our work is
dene gust because we have seen our child
ren through the teeth straightening and
measles age. Much of cur work is still
ahead, and it is difficult work because
we are not dealing any longer with child
ren who expect to "mind their mothers",
even if they resist, but with rebellious
people who look grown-up but are not, and
who cannot be handled by being told in
black and white what not to do. You
cannot meddle directly in the affairs of
an adolescent. Instead, you must with
draw your hand from the circumference of
his life and try to work on the condition:
that surround him; to prevent his making
contact with tho disease, and to equip
him to resist infection.
Tuberculosis is catching, like mumps or
any other contagious disease, so the
first step is to look for it in the
circle in which your youngsters live,
Pe sure they are not in close and affec
tionate c-ntact with old people who have
"chronic bronchitis" or any similar
complaint, unless you have found out by
medical examination, which must include
X-ray, that the ailment is not a slow
form of tuberculosis which old people
frequently have. Insist that teachers
undergo similar examinations oach year.
The danger hero is obvious. Work for
tuberculin testing of all students, which ,J
costs almost nothing, and an X-ray ex
amination of those who react positively.
At home, you can work to build up their
resistance,' Studies' of innumerable
cases indicate that factors which predis
pose them to infection are over-activity,
lack of the right food, lack of sleep,
and worry; over-social success, money,
emotional conditions at home, and health.
•That to do- First, you can run your hone
so they get eight hours sleep a night,
there are late hours during the week
ends, let the youngsters sleep in the
mornings even if you do feel that they
ought to'be up and at work. You can even
-"encourage a little loafing as an antidote
to over-activity. You can put on the
table plenty of resistance-building food
-- eggs, milk, fruits, and leafy vege
tables, You can help then not to worry
about social success, first, by not put
ting up any false standards yourself, and
second, by giving them a social backin'
m the form pf a hone where their friends
are always welcome. It is sometimes hard
to protect a youngster from worry about
money these days, but you need not pass
on your anxiety, and you can buy for him
a feeling of security by putting even a
very small emergency fund in the bank in
his name. Studies of two hundred fatal
cases of tuberculosis among girls showed
that a good many of the victims had 'this
common denominator — a breken home, •
You can see tc it that you don't harp on
wealth. Public prints arc .full of terri
fying facts about disease these days, and
one doctor says that what it all docs to
the endocrene glands is nobody's business,
fou can be' reassuring 'about it. But you
get the idea; ease up on pressure; as they
say in Hollywood, "Have it easvi"
I
Finally, you can work with your school,
■work with your board of health, work with
the local tuberculosis association.
-• 3. is old and tough. Our children are
young and not tough at all. But we can
beat even T. B. if wo all hang together'.
Christmas Seals help to aid the sick and
protect thfr well.