USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Attleboro > Reports of town officers of the town of Attleborough 1925 > Part 4
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We want to especially emphasize at this time the danger of persons having gasoline in their homes or in their places of business, no matter how small the quantity may be. This hazard is extremely dangerous in the case the right mixture takes place in the atmosphere : and lately we have had knowledge that gasoline has been used in some homes for cleaning nurposes.
The use of gasoline in homes, stores, or manufacturing plants is entirely contrary to the Laws of the Insurance People; and we are glad to have this opportunity of cautioning the people here in the City regarding this very dangerous hazard.
Another hazard with which the Fire Department is now obliged to contend is the Oil Burner used on stoves and other apparatus dur- ing the winter.
These burners, if approved by the Insurance Underwriters, are per- fectly safe if handled properly. If a furnace is neglected, to which one of these burners is attached, there is surely trouble coming to the owner of the property. We have special reference to the facts that
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ANNUAL REPORT
oil heaters should be taken care of at special times, and also that all tanks for the oil should be buried in the ground and not located in the cellar where, if by any chance a leak takes place and a fire occurs, there is absolutely no opportunity for the Fire Department to get this fire out except by extreme measures which, as a rule, mean the ruina- tion of the property.
We have had a few fires here in our City from oil burners, one which was very serious. In this particular instance the fire was not caused from the oil burner itself, but the water gauge was not kept perfectly clear as it should be, with the result that the water was boiled completely out of the boiler; and, as the oil heater continued to keep up As same volume of heat units, the natural results was that the whole furnace became red hot, thereby communicating itself to the surround- ing woodwork.
A furnace using coal would of course never cause this particular kind of trouble for it would have required attention and naturally it would have been discovered that something was wrong.
We cannot lay too much stress upon using precautions where oil burners are used; and if ordinary precautions are taken, there is no reason why these burners should not be as efficient as any other type of heating apparatus.
Recommendations.
The Board of Fire Engineers recommend, for the third time, that a new piece of fire apparatus be purchased to take the place of the Knox truck now in service at the South Main Street Station. This is the first piece of motor apparatus purchased by the City, in the year 1911, and is in very bad condition, Parts for repairs for this car have not been manufactured for years, and have to be made to order, making it very expensive; and putting the car out of commission for a long time. The chemical tank is leaking badly, and is past repairing, making the car unsafe for further use.
The Engineers do not care to assume the responsibility of acci- dent to the men, while using this piece of apparatus.
We also recommend a car for the Chief of the Department, as con- ditions are now, with the Chief being building inspector, he is out a good part of each day which leaves the Assistant Chief without a car to answer alarms while the Chief is away from the station inspecting buildings.
We would also recommend that a drill tower be erected so that the men can have proper training in the handling of ladders and hose. It is impossible to give them proper training under the present con- ditions.
We also recommend that some better system of Fire Police be put into force as at the present time both the Police and Fire Depart- ments are very much handicapped when a fire occurs.
We join in the recommendation of the Superintendant of Public Works, that an eight inch main be laid and a hydrant be installed, in the rear of the Sturdy Hospital; as conditions for getting sufficient water in case of fire in the Hospital buildings are bad.
We do not recommend for next year, but some provision will have to be made for a Fire Station in South Attleboro near the State line to take care of that end of the City which is growing very fast. We are now sending one piece from the center which is a very long run.
The roof on the South Main Street Station is in very bad con- dition and should be repaired this year.
We recommend that the bell tower on Peck Street be torn down as it is not safe. We recommend it be discontinued.
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ANNUAL REPORT
We recommend that three more Captains be appointed, making six Captains and two Lieutenants.
Estimated Expenses.
Salaries-Permanent Men
$74,256.87
Callmen
4,480.00
$78,736.87
Hydrants
$15,660.00
Light, Phone and Water
950.00
Maintaining Autos
2,700.00
Coal and Wood
1,500.00
General Supplies
2,500.00
Incidentals
500 00
Hose
1,000.00
Repairs on Station
800.00
Convention
200.00
$104,546 87
Recommendations.
Repairs on Station
$2,500.00
Combination Pump
13,000.00
Three Captains
273.75
Chief's Car
1,500.00
$121,820.62 We wish at this time to extend our thanks to His Honor the Mayor, to the Honorable City Council, to the Committee on Fire Department, to the Police Department for their assistance and to the officers and men of the Department for the able manner in which they have per- formed their duties.
Respectfully submitted,
Board of Fire Engineers William E. Sweeney, Chairman Craig C. Pope Chief Fred A. Clark, Clerk.
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ANNUAL REPORT
CITY FORESTER
To His Honor, the Mayor and Municipal Council :
Gentlemen :-
In the annual scouting for gypsy moths all the road side trees and brush were carefully looked over and the gypsy moth eggs destroyed with cresote and later spraying was done where conditions required, the same was done in orchards.
Sixteen trees were removed caused by widening of streets and the rounding of corners. Several other dead trees were also removed.
Brush was cut on all the country roadsides.
Special attention was given to removing dead limbs from shade trees all over the city.
I recommend that $3,650.00 be appropriated for the Forestry De- partment divided as follows :
Salary 1,200.00, Maintainance of Truck 300.00, Labor 1,800.00, Inci- dentals, Insurance and Telephone $350.00.
Respectfully submitted,
WM. E. S. SMITH, City Forester.
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ANNUAL REPORT
HEALTH DEPARTMENT
ORGANIZATION OF THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT, 1925.
Health Officer WILLIAM O. HEWITT, M. D.
Inspector of Milk and Authorized Agent
** WILLIAM P. LYONS EDWIN M. KNIGHTS, PH.B., M. S.
Inspector of Plumbing
ARTHUR B. READ JOSEPH M. SEAGRAVES
Inspector of Slaughtering HUGH GAW, D. V. S.
Inspector of Animals FREDERICK L. BRIGGS, D. V. M.
Health Department Nurse
** HELEN M. LOGAN, R. N. MARY E. McMAHON, R. N.
Registrar of Deaths STEPHEN H. FOLEY
Clerk MILDRED A. HEWINS
Associate Physician at Tuberculosis Dispensary F. V. MURPHY, M. D.
** Resigned
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ANNUAL REPORT
ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT
To the Honorable Mayor and Municipal Council :
City of Attleboro, Massachusetts.
Gentlemen :
The Health Department presents herewith for your consideration, its eleventh annual report, together with the reports of its various ap- pointees for the year ending December 31, 1925. Appended are tables and statistical data.
ORGANIZATION
There have been two changes among the department's appointees during the year. In September, the resignation of William P. Lyons as Inspector of Milk and Authorized Agent was accepted after he had served for a period of one year. Edwin M. Knights of Providence was appointed as Mr. Lyons successor and is very well qualified for service in this important position. Mr. Knights is also connected with the Providence City Hospital as bacteriologist. The laboratory and dairy inspection work under his supervision gives promise to increased efficiency.
It is probable that Mr. Knights will be unable to serve in his present capacity for a period longer than two years, after which time plans should be made for the appointment of a full-time inspector and bac- teriologist to properly care for the work of this sub-department.
Early in September, the department received with regret the resig- nation of its efficient nurse, Miss Helen M. Logan. During her valu- able service of two and one-half years, Miss Logan showed an unusual interest in public health nursing, and won the confidence and esteem of her patients, and others with whom she was associated while thus em- ployed. As a successor to Miss Logan, we were fortunately able to appoint Miss Mary E. McMahon who has already demonstrated her ability to fill the position creditably.
DISEASE PREVENTION PROBLEMS
We are able to report that during the past year a decided advance has been effected locally in public health activities. This period has been marked not so much by the introduction of new ideas as by in- tensive work in the carrying out of policies adopted in recent years which were apparently sound, and to our minds, deserving of more thorough application.
The duties of a health department which include such items as the discovery and removal of sources of disease, and the protection of the community against preventable sickness and death, have come to be looked upon in recent years as vastly more important matters of community concern than formerly. The explanation of this is found in the growing interest of the general public in health.
The important subject of health and disease has of late become popularized and not solely as a result of the efforts of health officials legally created and working under various enacted statutes and local ordinances. There has come into existence in addition to the official agencies, a large number of voluntary organization devoted to the in- terests of health, and carrying on their endeavors in national, state, and municipal fields. These non-official agencies are recognized by the Health Officer as important to every community, and while in some
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ANNUAL REPORT
instances, they may be poorly organized, and for this reason are the cause of some friction, for the most part, their ideas are found to be helpful and their purposes sincere. Private agencies have done much to attract the people as a whole toward the subject of public health.
We have endeavored to bring about a spirit of co-operation be- tween the health department, and other local health agencies, and we believe that such co-operation has proven to be of distinct advantage to all concerned. The family physician, always and properly the first to be consulted in matters pertaining to health and disease, now dis- covers other duties besides the mere consideration of the personal prob- lems of his patients. The medical practitioner now finds himself in- terested in preventive medicine for the benefit of all the citizens. Many of the meetings of the medical fraternity are now given over to con- siderations of public health matters, and the doctor today is directing the future of well people while attending to those who are in distress.
With a growing popular interest then in disease prevention, the problems of the health officer would seem to be nearing a more satis- factory solution. Whether or not this is so it is apparent that results will be forthcoming from properly supervised publicity, and public health education work.
Modern public health practice may be said to deal directly with the individual as well as with his environment. The custom hereto- fore has always been marked by the attempt to correct faulty con- ditions of hygiene by procedures influencing and directed solely toward faulty surroundings. Now means are used more distinctly personal in their application to safeguard and protect the individual. This is a real advance in public health work and is marked by a growing sense of responsibility of the individual to protect his own personal health. The control if communicable diseases by isolation and quarantine is still an effective means of prevention, but there is future promise of much more efficient control through immunization. It is now possible through immunization of individuals, to prevent the occurance of a group of diseases that contributed alarmingly to the death rate, and in the wake of which followed many serious complications.
A most hopeful sign of the times to all health workers is the con- stantly increasing demand among individuals and heads of families that these modern methods be applied. A good foundation on which to build future public health work lies in that part of preventive medicine which puts proper emphasis on the importance of individual health.
TUBERCULOSIS.
There were 85 cases reported in the city during the year with 41 deaths. These figures include all those cases and deaths reported of patients resident at the Bristol County Tuberculosis Hospital. Exclud- ing non-residents, there were 34 cases reported and 17 deaths. For a great many years this department has called attention in its annual re- ports to the importance of tuberculosis. It is significant that tuber- culosis is not only the most important of all the diseases which require our attention, but also that the measures taken for its control reach into nearly every other public health activity. For example, one has in mind the prevention of tuberculosis in safeguarding the milk supply which is without question, an important medium through which chil- dren may acquire the disease.
The inspection of meat, of bakeries, and other places where food is sold, of soda fountains, and efficient animal inspection, these are only a few of the items that must receive attention in anti-tuberculosis work.
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ANNUAL REPORT
If we could in some way prevent all infective material from coming into contact with susceptible persons, then the disease might be en- tirely eradicated. It is impossible, however, to bring about such ideal conditions. We are all of us constantly exposed to infection. How then shall we fight this disease? We must first prevent, in so far as it is possible, exposure to tuberculosis. We must build up, as best we can, the resistance of individuals, especially children who are found to be susceptible to the disease, and finally, we must attempt to prevent the development of the condition in infected persons, and provide for the care, under suitable surroundings, of those who have the disease.
Considerably more than one-half of our department appropriation is devoted to tuberculosis prevention and care of cases. In addition to this, Attleboro was called upon, during 1925, to pay $16,673.51 for its share of maintenance of our county institution located here. With these facts before us it may be well for us to review briefly the measures that are now taken in prevention.
As soon as an active case is discovered, or reported, immediate measures are undertaken to safeguard not only the patient, but also the lives of those who are in immediate contact. The patient is visit- ed by the nurse who co-operates with the attending physician in the attempt to carry out the measures that are now taken in prevention, and in the attempt to secure what the case demands in the way of proper care and treatment. In most cases, admission to a sanatorium is recommended for the best interests of the patient, of the immediate family, and of the community. In the important matter of hospitali- zation of its tuberculosis cases, Attleboro perhaps spends as much money if not more than any other city in the state in proportion to its population. The patient having been provided for, the contact cases in the family, especially children, now receive consideration. These contacts, unless under the immediate care of a physician, are watched carefully through systematic visitation by the nurse, and periodic ex- aminations in the clinic which is held for that purpose each week.
The clinic records should contain data on every case of tubercu- losis, and of every person who has lived in contact with such cases. A detailed account of the weights and physical examinations of these patients is kept in numbered folders and a street directory lists the cases for visitation by streets and sections. Admissions to and dis- charges of patients from sanatoria, deaths, and changes of residence are also recorded. These records are frequently inspected by a rep- resentative from the State Department of Health.
The work of tuberculosis prevention can never perhaps be carried out in an ideal manner; caring for the tuberculosis patients, and super- vising the contact cases does not solve the problem. Something must be done for both children and adults especially for the children who are found to be susceptible to tuberculosis. We have instituted the health camp with this idea in view and its work in that connection seems necessary and worth while. The ideal in this work will be more nearly reached with the hoped for establishment of a preventorium under municipal supervision and management. A most satisfactory program of prevention may then be maintained with the sanatorium for the care and treatment of the tuberculosis, the health camp for undernourished children during the summer; and that third link in the chain ;- a preventorium offering all year round treatment and care for that important group of cases which deserves so much more of our consideration. Contact and juvenile cases of tuberculosis will never be properly cared for in any health camp. In our opinion, funds spent
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ANNUAL REPORT
in this way are largely wasted in spite of prevailing views and prac- tices to the contrary.
DIPHTHERIA IMMUNIZATION
We have reached the end of our third year in this necessary work. It has not been an easy task to build up a new clinic in diphtheria pre- vention and to carry on hand in hand with this a program of educa- tion on a subject concerning which, practically nothing was known locally by our citizens before the campaign was started in the Fall of 1923. The clinic seems to have weathered the storm of some disap- proval that was first apparent and the work is now quite firmly es- tablished on a basis that promisis in the years to come a certain re- duction in the deaths from this serious and preventable disease.
The fall clinic for diphtheria prevention was opened on October third and continued every Saturday during the remainder of the year. Through the courtesy of the school department, literature was sent out to the homes reminding the parents of the necessity of having their children made safe from this disease. Articles dealing with the subject of diphtheria prevention were published frequently in the At- tleboro Sun and paid advertisements calling attention to the clinic also appeared frequently in the daily newspaper. Literature was also dis- tributed through the mediums of Insurance Companies and the District Nursing Society. The Child Welfare Conferences pointed out to mothers the advantages of immunization. The clinics were well at- tended and a large number of babies and children of pre-school age were immunized. One of the features of the work this year has been the immunization of a fair percentage of the children attending the parochial school.
The following data are submitted :
Total number of treatments given in Clinic. 548
Number of original Schick Tests
67
Positive
35
Negative
22
Pseudo reaction 2
Not read
8
Administrations of toxin-antitoxin
527
Number of children immunized 159
16
Two treatments only
One treatment only 18
Number or re-schick tests
62
Positive
4
Negative
54
Not read
4
SCARLET FEVER
For the last two years we have had in common with other nearby cities and towns an unusually high incidence of scarlet fever cases. There were fifty-three cases reported in 1924, and 40 cases during the past year. These cases were fortunately of a rather mild type, and few of them were followed by any of the sequelae so often noted in this disease. There was but one death and that child was reported to have also had diphtheria as a fatal complication. The cases of scarlet fever during the first part of the year were nearly all reported from one section of the city, but during the last few months, the disease be- came quite evenly distributed throughout the city. As the disease spread, all the families quarantined were visited by the nurse and every
ATTLEBORO HEALTH CAMP
ATTLEBORO HEALTH CAMP BASKET BALL TEAM
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ANNUAL REPORT
precaution taken in the matter of prevention. Valuable assistance was rendered by the school department in excluding from the schools all cases found to have been in recent contact with the reported cases. November showed the greatest incidence of any month and in Decem- ber conditions had much improved. There were some difficulties ex- perienced in quarantine. The cases were so mild that doubtless many of them had no physician, and were not recognized. Several suspicious cases reported by the school department and from other sources were carefully guarded. There were several instances of exposed persons escaping quarantine, and the usual amount of carelessness displayed by certain families in subjecting others to the risk of infection. ʼŤhe services of the nurse in visiting the quarantined families, and in offering timely advice undoubtedly had much to do toward preventing a more serious epidemic.
SMALLPOX AND VACCINATION
Early in the spring our attention was directed to the fact that smallpox which had been for several months more prevalent than usual throughout the country, had been discovered in towns nearby and on our borders. Pawtucket, Central Falls, and later Woonsocket, was visited by the disease. A conference with the Health Officer at Cen- tral Falls was obtained and the fact was evident that smallpox of a moderately severe type existed. One contact from Woonsocket liv- ing in South Attleboro was vaccinated, and carefully watched. In April, a case of suspected smallpox in Hebronville was promptly in- vestigated and later seen by the District Health Officer in consultation. There was no evidence to show that this patient had the disease.
The school children here are unusually well protected against smallpox because of the wise insistence by the school authorities for many years past that the statutes in reference to vaccination be strictly observed. There are, however, many adults here as in other commu- nities who are not protected against smallpox by vaccination. When smallpox occurs in our immediate vicinity, as it has during the past year, our city is indeed fortunate to have escaped without a case hav- ing been discovered. The possibility of smallpox visiting the city is always a matter of grave concern and unvaccinated adults as well as the parents of young children should see that vaccination is performed without delay as smallpox spreads rapidly among the unvaccinated. Warning is especially given to those individuals who feel secure from smallpox because their vaccination performed at sometime or other, didn't "take." You may be quite certain that you are not immune to smallpox unless you have had the disease or else bear the scar of a successful vaccination. Vaccination as now practiced is a very sim- ple procedure, indeed, and need be feared by no person no matter what his fancied opinion may be against it. Moreover, it is the only safe way of escaping smallpox.
TYPHOID FEVER
In common with other cities, we have to report a somewhat in- creased, but not alarming incidence of this disease. In 1925 six cases were reported, with one death, against three for 1923, and two during 1924, with no deaths. In Providence, the disease incidence which was under excellent control in 1922, has shown an upward trend. The in- creased number of cases has been said to be due to unsanitary con- ditions existing in camps and small roadside eating places now so com- monly visited by automobilists. A careful investigation was made of every case reported locally, and no common cause could be assigned
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in any two instances. The distribution of the cases, and other facts proved beyond a doubt that there was no contamination of our local milk or water supply.
TEN MILE RIVER
The Health Department in 1923 started an investigation of the causes of pollution of the Ten Mile River and adopted definite measures for their control. The fact that the city is equipped with an adequate sewerage system, and an ideal system of sewage disposal made it necessary in our opinion that further pollution of this stream with sewage should cease. Details of the campaign that has been carried on in this connection have been reviewed in former reports.
During the past year, our activities in diverting sewage which was formerly emptied into the river toward our filter beds, have been re- newed. We are not satisfied as yet that all sources of pollution have been removed. The difficult task of obtaining further evidences of pollution still goes on. We have found many property owners who apparently had no knowledge that their estates were not connected with the municipal sewer, until after investigation, we were able to call the facts to their attention. Additional connections have been made with the sewer during the year including those of several dwell- ings and one large factory. The recent extension of the sewer on West Street will remove from the river a considerable amount of sewage that has been discharged into the brook near the corner of North Avenue.
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