Suchergebnisse

Health consists of the maintenance of a balance between selfperpetuation in as constant a form as possible & evolution through external exchanges with the environment. Every disease may be described as an attack on this homeostatic mechanism. Any ill person tends to regress by putting the need for constancy & security before the need for exchange; hence, he has an increased need for protection & experiences an egocentric narrowing of interests & a diminished capacity for integrating space & time. This has been common knowledge as far as his physical functions are concerned, but the mental function: also need security, maternal care & a reduction of exchanges with the outside world. To meet these needs in a hospital situation means to provide the security & other advantages of home life without the personal responsibility this usually entails. This environment is approached by employing a hostess to arrange the details of reception into the hosp; by having only one doctor & one nurse responsible for the care of the patient; by keeping the ward within a size, ideally holding 20 to 40 persons, which can be handled by a small team of attendants; & by seeing that the whole institution forms a single unit, ideally a capacity of about 300. Psychol'al & soc requirements are equally important in making architectural plans for a hosp, keeping in mind the 2 major needs of patient-protection & independence. B. J. Keeley.

It is impossible to predetermine rigidly the public health problems in major disasters or the official relief actions to be taken; each disaster presents its own characteristics. Good public health organization must, in such circum stances, be able to co-operate quickly with other relief agencies, identify and evaluate actual and potential public health hazards, mobilize existing health re sources, take emergency measures to control or eliminate hazards and restore public health facilities. The co-operative functioning of local, state, and federal health agencies is described by the author, and especially the organization and work of the federal Public Health Service in disaster operations. The author illustrates the functioning of the Service in connection with the outbreak in 1952 of mosquito-borne encephalitis in the Central Valley of California and the 1955 hurricane and floods in the northeastern states.—Ed.

In spite of impressive declines in childhood mortality during the 1st half of the cent, the infant mortality rate of the US occupies an increasingly unfavorable place among those of nations whose over-all econ development is comparable during the past decade. These events are a reflection of the static or increasing proportion of the pop which has not participated in the post-war affluence of the majority. Poverty & its attendant circumstances are sources of increased health hazards, some of which can be prevented or ameliorated by comprehensive health care services of high quality. However, the existing structure, co-ordination, & administration of such services in the US militates against such a possibility. More attention must be given to total soc planning & the philosophical framework from which it derives. Present US infant mortality rates should be viewed & discussed as a serious nat'l & pol'al problem. AA.

Thanks to a legislative change, fire services in England are helping widen efforts to improve child health