ANTHROP. PAP. EASTERN CHEROKEE GROUPS — ^KUPFERER 261 



Cherokee, with the exception of those in the Middle Class, use the 

 PubUc Health services. 



Well-baby clinics are held once a week in the offices of the PubHc 

 Health niu-se, and periodically in the Big Cove and Snow Bird com- 

 munity schools. Mothers are urged to bring in children up to 5 years 

 of age for periodic checkups. Children attending these clinics receive 

 inoculations for tetanus, smallpox, diphtheria, whooping cough, and poUo. 



Two preschool clinics are held each May. All children who are to 

 be registered in school for the first time must be checked by the 

 physician. The examination is a cursory one, but it does suffice to 

 screen gross conditions. It also detects children who have not had 

 their full set of inoculations. Yearly screening examinations for 

 tuberculosis are provided for school children, and during the winter 

 of 1959-60, the children were given flu shots. Consequently, children 

 who attend reservation schools, regardless of family orientation, are 

 protected from virulent Ulnesses. 



Since all families, exclusive of the Middle Class, are drawn into the 

 clinics, we cannot distinguish between groups on the basis of their 

 use of disease prevention services. Difference does occur, however, 

 in behavior during clinic visitations, and in attitudes toward inocula- 

 tions. These behavioral variations make it possible to identify two 

 distinct groups. These groups are clearly marked by the demeanor 

 or pose assumed in the clinic, both in the waiting room and in the 

 dispensary. While waiting to be called, those in the first category 

 sit quietly outside. Their children, both babies and toddlers, also 

 sit with solemn expressions. If they speak, it is very softly and often 

 in Cherokee. Those of the second group laugh and visit noisily with 

 one another whUe awaiting their turn. Their children wander about, 

 talk to others in the waiting room, or thumb through the children's 

 books which are provided. 



CATEGORY 1. PASSIVE 



Both the adults and children in this category are iaarticulate and 

 acquiescent. Although the Public Health nurse greets everyone in a 

 jocular manner, these people reply to the greeting almost inaudibly. 



Their main purpose in bringing children to the weU-baby clinic is 

 for inoculations, which they realize all children must have. They 

 seldom initiate a discussion of other health matters. If these arise, 

 they are introduced by the nurse who administers the clinic. For 

 instance, in the course of administering diptheria and whooping 

 cough inoculations the nurse said, "Her stomach is puffy; has she 

 got worms?" The mother replied casually, "I don't know, she 

 might have." 



