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STATION BULLETIN 346 

 PUBLIC HEALTH 



The state board of health consists of the governor, the attorney 

 general, three physicians, and a civil engineer. The physicians and 

 civil engineer are appointed by the governor with advice of the coun- 

 cil. The major duties of the state board are centered around investi- 

 gations and inquiries, and advising and assisting town health officers 

 in making investigations of sanitary matters in their towns. The 

 board appoints a secretary who is the state health officer and is the 

 registrar of vital statistics. Town clerks are required to report all 

 births, deaths, and marriages to the state health officer. 



The state board of health appoints a health officer in each town 

 upon recommendation of the selectmen. The selectmen and the ap- 

 pointed officer constitute the local board of health. Local health offi- 

 cers are required to enforce the public health laws and regulations of 

 the state and make such sanitary investigations as may be required 

 either by the local board or by the state board. There are no quali- 

 fications specified for the local health officer except that he must be 

 a resident of the town. 



In many respects there is no sharp distinction between local 

 health service and local welfare service. Medical service for the 

 needy is usually provided by county and town welfare agencies. Many 

 community nursing agencies have been developed to assist in bedside 

 care and health instruction, but more frequently local physicians at- 

 tend the indigent in their own homes or at the physician's office on a 

 free basis or by contract with the town. In practice the town health 

 officer's duties include principally receiving reports of diseases, im- 

 posing quarantines, and reporting to the local physician. Usually 

 he examines schools and other public buildings, and inspects the milk 

 and water supply when ordered to do so by the state board. 



School hygiene is a responsibility of the state department of 

 education, except for the control of communicable diseases. The 

 statutes require that the standard school shall make suitable provi- 

 sion for health and public welfare. The interpretation of this statute 

 by the state board of education is expressed in the following resolu- 

 tion: 



. . . all districts which have not adopted medical inspection must 

 employ a school physician or school nurse for the physical examina- 

 tion of children, and superintendents must include physical exercises 

 in the program for all elementary schools. 70 



At the present time at least 80 districts employ the services of physi- 

 cians, and 232 of the 237 districts maintaining schools employ nurses. 

 Of these, 42 are full-time school nurses serving 165 districts. The 

 state board of education reports as follows : 



Through this regulation practically every child in the public schools 

 of the state receives a public health examination during the year. 71 



School niirses utilize clinics and hospital facilities wherever pos- 

 sible. The clinics are made available by the cooperation of the state 



"" Biennial report of state board of education 1939 

 " Ibid. 



