The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, March 31, 1940, Page 38

A PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT EDITION COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CONTROL WORK IS VITAL Spedial Emmsis Placed | Upon Tuberculosis and Venereal Diseases Division ci (‘nmmumrablc Disease Control The functions of this Division are the control and prevention of | infectious or communicable diseases. | This work is all-embracing, includ- | ing all diseases which may be trans- | mitted from man to man, animal to| animal, or to man through his en- vircnment. In order to carry out| this work, close cooperation is re-| quired between this and the othery Divisions of the Territorial Depart- | ment of Health., Special emphasis is placed on the major communi-| cable disease problems of Alaska,| such as tuberculosis and venereal| digeas In order to properly evaluate lh(‘\ work cf the Department of Health | and direct efforts where they are needed, it is necessary that the Divisicn of Communicable Disease Jcntrel be notified at all times of | the presence of contagion in ever;, community. In order to accon plish this, it is required by \h‘ Health Department that all phy<1<‘ cians, nurses and teachers mpon immediately the presence of any | communicable diseases in their lo-| calities. To prevent the spread of | these diseases the Public Health | Nurses are notified to carry out| such measures of isolation or qual- untine as may be necessary. Tth\ includes, of course, the searching out of all known contacts of the in- fected persen. | Auditor Cooperates | Through the cooperation of the| Territorial Auditor (who is also the | Territorial Registrar of Vital Sta- tistics), this Division receives copies cf 1 birth and death certificates Te ered in the Territory. Valua- ble information is derived from these which. 'aids control pro- By comparing the reported deaths of any communicable con- dition with the known reported cases (morbidity reports) the Di- vision can ascertain the death rate from any particular cause. We can thereby lower the number of deaths from these particular diseases by directing our efforts to control the causes. Other information gained from the study of morbidity and mortality statistics is given to the various officials of the Department of Health to be acted upon at their diseretion Seme of the major activities of this Division are outlined as follows: 1. Compilation of morbidity and Mertality sta ics: As indicated above, the major activities of the Fealth Department as a whole are dependent upon these statistics. It is only through a comprehensive knowledge of the causes of sickness and death in the community that steps can be taken to control these factors. 2. Contrel of epidemics: When- ever indicated, it is the duty of the Director of the Division of Com- municable Disease Control to inves- | tigate and determine the cause of | large or unusual outbreaks of the| disease. In this work, the Division reports, grams DISEASES During 1939 Reports from all four Judicial Di- visions of the Territory showed the following cases of communicable \ disea. in Alaska during 1839: | Chickenpox 208 | Diphtheria 9 I Erysipelas 6 | German Measles 15 | Gonorrhea 260 | Impetigo 34 | Influenza 231 Measles 2,767 Meningitis, Epidemic 3 Mumps 12 Pneumonia 69 Scabies e Scarlet Fever 44 Septic Sore Throat 14 | Syphillis 114 | Tetanus 1 | Tuberculosis, Pulmon- ‘ t ary 392 | Tuberculosis, Other 3 forms 41 | Typhoid Fever 12 Undulant Fever B Vincent's Angina 4 Whooping Cuu«'h 112 1939 PROGRESS INSANITATION IS OUTSTANDING - | | \ | | THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE, SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 1940. TAKING ALASKA CENSUS i POSES MANY PROBLEMS; COUNTING BEGAN EARLY & i | ) I | Division of Public Healihw—--—“ ——r : | THIS 1S WHAT | Engineering Adfive for | T Residents’ Welfare || TERRITORY HAD | i TEN YEARS AGO | Division of Public Health Engin- || i eering § CRCBNLEL i Progress in sanitation has been, 1930 CENSUS |during the past vear, of great value|| Total Population 59278 | in the protection of public health White 28,640 | of the Territory of Alaska. Im-|| Indian 29, 98:{ i provement in public water supplies, Chinese 26 i sewerage and other phases of mu-|| Japanese 278 nicipal sanitation has been marked [ Negro 136 | and the progress in milk sanitation || Other races 215 | has been unprecedented. Increased *Comprises i observance of sanitary regulations in | Filipinos 164 eating and drinking places, canner- Mexicans 29 | jies and other establishments has|| Hawalians 11 | been helpful in maintaining the Koreans 11 i public health at a high level The problem of the control and conservation of sanitation in Alaska the public health standpoint as the is the function of the Division of rte products were repeatedly Territorial Department of Health.| oo ppory qm{-n standards The work of this Division mcludc\:\”m“ exammination I ‘the: Pubhe the sanitary supervision of public| water supplies and sewerage; re- view and approval of plans and \])cc- ifications for addition to public water supplies and sewerage systems; certification public water supplies used in Inter-| state Commerce carriers; sanitar inspection of food establishment. salmon canneries, bathing places, and barber and beauty shops; the construction or | PUTg. of | With the sanit sani- | tary control of milk production, pas- | teurization and distribution; inves- tigation of and santitation by public addresses, conferences and dissemination of in- formation. Water Supply Improvement in municipal sani- tation during the past year has minimized the potential menace of of Communicable Disease Control|{a poorly protected public water cooperates very closely with the Di- |supply and improper sewage and vision of Public Health Laborator-|waste disposal methods in many an ies and the Division of Public Health | Alaskan community. Engineering. Adeguate records are‘ A new water supply was con- kept of such investigations and such |structed in the community of Pal- steps as may be negessary to control mer. This supply, derived from a future similar outbreaks are taken |nearby spring area, displaced the whenever feasible. |two wells which had become inade- 3. Quarantine and'iselation: This guate. The supplies of Skagway and work in most instances is carried |Juneau, which are also certified for out for the Health Department by use in Interstate Commerce carriers, the local Public Health Nurses,|were provided with such protective working in cooperation with the lo- |construction changes as recommend- cal Health Officers and Deputy ed by the Division. The distribu- Commissioners of Health. |tion system of the Anchorage sup- 4. Tmmunization clinies: Working |ply was extended under a Works through the local Public Health Progress Administration project. Nurses, local physicians, school| The sewage disposal plant at Pal- insanitary conditions:: land the premotion of public health H(‘allh Laboratories. Dairies in the Anchorage, Peters- Cordova and Haines milk- sheds were reconstructed to comply y specifications of the Territorial £ nance. In accordance with the ordi- nance provisions, these dairies were graded and are distributing their milk and milk products under grade labels. Dairies in Juneau, Fair- banks and Seward had been grad- ed prior to 1939, Undulant Fever Epidemics of undulant milk-borne disease, occurred in the | towns of Ketchikan and Anchorage in 1939 and 1940. Investigation of these epidemics by tihis department demonstrated the local daires as the probable source of disease. Tests of the dairy herds by the Territorial Veterinarian - showed the presence of Brucella Abortus, the causative organism of this disease, in the raw milk of several cows in each dairy. As a result of these startling find- ings, this Department recommend- ed the adoption of compulsory pas- teurization of all milk in the com- munities for the future protection of the public from this disease. Pasteurization plants were in- stalled in Ketchikan and Anchorage to provide for the effective pasteur- ization of all raw milk produced by the local dairies. These plants were constructed in accordance with the provisions of the Territorial | Standard Milk Ordinance. fever, a| teachers and other agencies, immu- nizatien clinics are being carried out | in the Territory at all times. All| biologicals are administered under the supervision of the Division of Communicable Disease Control, and are distributed free by the Division of Public Health laboratories. Per- manent records are kept in the files of all individuals immunized. 5. Tuberculosis Control: Free drugs are furnished to all physicians in the Territory for the treatment of venereal diseases. The problem of veneréal disease comtrol is pe- culiar, in that in order to make a patient non-infectious, the patient| must be treated. For this reason | the Health Department established | a fund last year to pay for the| treatment of indigent white patients. This money is available to all the physicians in the Territory on ap- plication to the Division of Com- municable Disease Control. i 7. Public Health Education: A constant educational pregram is carried out by members of this Division, as well as by the staff of the entire Health Department, through lectures, private visits to nurses and physicians, furnishing free pamphlets and other educa- tional material showing health films newspaper articles, and radio talks. It is the effort of the entire Health Department to help the citizens of the Terriory to lead a healthier and more useful life. * .- Alexander Baranof was the first of the explorers and traders to visit Southeast Alaska. His voyage was made in 1795. Baranof Island bears his name, | fluent. |septic tank, one of the few com- mer was reconstructed to provnde adequate disposal of the plant ef- This plant, an Imhof-type Ganneries snspected The annual sanitary inspection of salmon canneries as carried on by the Division of Public Health En- munity sewage disposal plants in the Territory, is used for the treat- ment of the community sewage and ‘cannery wastes of the Matansuka A new sewerage system was con- |} structed in the town of Fairbanks andard Milk Ordi-; POPULMION Gains Shown nchorage Angoon Bethel Cordova Fairban Fort Yuk Glacier Highway Haines Holy Cross Hoonah Hydaburg Juneau Kenai Ketchikan Klawock Kodiak Kwinhag Metlakatla Nenana 291 OQuzinkie 168 Palmer Petersburg Seward Shishmaref 223 Sitka 1056 Skagway 492 Valdez 442 Wrangell 946 Yakutat 265 Recerding Di s (Include any and all towns within District) 1939 1929 Circle 766 631 Fort Gibbon 425 488 Forty Mile 140 90 Hot Springs 170 199 Hyder 97 313 Kenai 23 468 Ketchikan i 6468 Koyukuk 2m Kuskokwim 793 722 Mt. McKinley 394 290 Nenana 611 68 Paimer 1444 Rampart 228 180 Seward 1536 1279 Tolovana 246 217 Valdez 915 1085 Wasilla 548 Bethel 3179 Good News Bay 451 ring in the summer of 1939, ed general improvement in cannery sanitation. Provision of protected water supplies, sanitary sewage, and waste disposal, modern housing and Valley Civic Center. : G R 0 C E R l E S e [ under the Public Works Adminis- [| tration, Extensions were made to existing sewers in the towns of Ju- neau, Ketchikan, Anchorage and| Petersburg under WPA relief work programs. | Sanitation Ordinance A comprehensive public health and the Division, was adopted during | the year by the towns of Petersburg and Sitka. This ordinance embrac- | es all phases of community sanita-| tion control and has provided for an effective local supervision of water | supplies, sewerage, garbage collec- tion and disposal and food estab- lishment sanitation. Milk sanitation has made great progress in the Territory during the past year. The protection and pre- | servation of milk, men’s most prec- | ious food, is an all-important func-|j§/ tion of the Division of Public Health [§! Engineering. as it is potentially one |}/ of the most dangerous vehicles of disease. Early in the year, through effect- | ive enforcement of the Territorial | Standard Milk Ordinance, milk im- portation was banned from milk- sheds in the States not governed by similar sanitary regulations. This policy was adopted, primarily, from ' Fishing Line Cotton Netting Marine Paints Rain Coals . . . . o Leather Clothing 432 lo Franklin St. AND 'sanltn-flm ordinance, drawn up by | & M A R l N E SUPPLIES Manila R Clothing ope Hip Boots Boat Supplies . Alaska bathing facilities and l‘isllermen s Supplies—Such As Fish Hooks |and distribution | Administration. | tial e Lu Liston mu,lu teenth Decennial Census as follows: Supervisor, Junean; Supervisor's Philip 8. Lydick, Juneau, and M. Danner, Juneau; Assist- the Supervisor, Second Divis- frs. Jennie W. Martin, Nome; istant to Supervisor, Third Di- Robert M. Mi Anchorage; ant to Supervisor, Fourth Di- on. ision, William F. Arend, Fairbanks. H 163 Enumerators { y are 39 enumerators in the By | the supervisor is required to make ! F fon, 44 in the Second, 44 Alask ftelliniriry’ annodneements of - Third, and 37 in the Fourth, . Taking the census in Alaska With | popyiation of all towns and vills one duplication as ohe ‘enum- its large area and small population | of more than 200 population, al erator is taking (he census in one of the Third and one in the presents problems that are not met | oording districts, and finally v St Thip 8 T3 Judicial Division and of the Division : nized in Washington and to help|iorv as a whole well to keep in mind that the overcome the handicaps and have | Dog Teams Help wes given in' the table are not the enumeration completed at the Air transportation is being used | final figures. For instance, preper time the date of beginning | i some cases but in most large a T he po on of Juneau was the census was October 1, 1939 In | cparsely settled districts away on December 14 enough Alaska while in the State April | the coast dog teams are being uscd names have been picked 1, 1940 Dogs are not as plentiful as in f » taise the figure to more than The setup for the Sixteenth De-|mer years, hence the cost of do I were a few that had | cennial Census is as follows: Each |team hire is sbmewhat greater than ! nissed by the enumerators Judicial Division divided into|ten years ago. In some district W the canvass of the enumeration districts. Such enum- | has been very heavy re that were out of eration district may comprise a | "he population returns so far re- (Own at the time. No enumeration | whole recording district or only a|ceived indicate that the population Can be 100 per cent correct but the part of such recording district. Each | of the Territory will be bety tor the count as accu- town and many of the villages, es- 72,000 and 73,000. Only from the 'a! possible. | pecially the larger ones, were con-| First Division are sufficient retu ey | stituted enumeration districts. Ju-|in to give a definite estimate. 'To The § al Corps, U. S. Army, neau and Ketchikan each had three | date 24,618 have been listed, w maintains the bulk of communica- enumeration districts. and in An-|somewhat less than 1,000 in the parts | tion vice in Alaska, furnishing |chorage and Fairbanks there were|yet unreported. Ten years ago the a « ve and efficient radio two. Some of the larger districts|pcpulation was 18,306. The popula- out the Territory, with covered thousands of square miles. | tion of the Territory 10 years ago sta located in 22 Alaska towns, As originally laid out there were|was 59,278. ¢ ith wdquarters located at |59 enumeration districts in the Pirst| The personnel of those in charge Seattl hington | Judicial Divisior 48 in the Second, aspvvl of the larger ¢ 170 in the Third, and in the| | Fourth. A number of changes were | 3 et .. |later made ‘ 1] A Supervisor to have charge of AlASKA s HRS'I’ | | the entire wo # of taking the census i was appointed with headquarters at | (ENSUS TAKEN i Juneau. Also an Assistant to the dSupervisor for each of the Second, | 100 YEARS AGO lThmI and Fourth Divisions, the | i|Assistants to have the immediate | Alaska's census’™ conservative Almanac de Gotha stuck to 50,000. sanitary food establishments in these heavily populated industrial communities cbviate the public health menace created by insani- tation. Marked improvement in food es- tablishment sanitation was noted by the Division in the past year The 1163 inspections made by the | Division in that period served to stimulate t bservance of sani- tary procedures of food productic ing and disinfection and food pro- tection methods were pam(umm observed by the operators The medical examination of food | | handlers in public ments was facilitated by the addi- tion of a supplement to the exist- ing law by the Territorial Board of The provides for a standard fee for the | examination. The rapid popuiation increase of the small village of Kodiak during the year presented a major Sanltl\< tion problem. Polluted wel im-| proper sewage disposal, garbage dumping and several sanitary food establishments, hur- riedly constructed created a poten- menace to the community health. Rigid enforcement of sani- tation regulations and promotion of temporary sanitary sewage disposal by the Division of Public Engineering, however, essential sanitation program for the protection of the community health PHONE 217 v, E ¥ 5 % z § i~ I’s a Pleasure p—=-iTo Save Here! | Qur stock is compx sed of the highest qu 1 ty of all nationally lines of groceri | ned goods . . . are ready to give service to our custor ers. It would be a re laxation for you to buy your supplies from us " Swanson Bres. Grocery PHONE 217 || tice Proper dishwash- | food establish- | supplement | promiscuons | in-| Health | provided the | of Indiar schools teacher and teachers in Territorial Schools I done the work in a ¢ | supervision of the work in their di- | 1 '1]n<~( e far || visions, that in the First Division | ciy from the scientific enum- ||peing directly looked after by the . Cration ot toduy—aa condurt= || Bupervisr ® Careful Handling ed ‘v 1839. Wrangel reported i Agencies Cooperate | it showed a population of 10,000 ! Severs Governmental Depart- including 348 Russlaris wiid 804 1| iients. sre actively? oboperating fn ® Modern Trucks Crecles” (presumably children || the taking of the census. The la : of Russian fathers and Native i|part of the coast of Southeast Al mothers.) {laska and Prince William Sound, out- Quick S i The Russian population of ||side of towns and villages, is being ® Quick Service Alaska in 1851 was given as 506. ||enumerated by employees of the In 1857, according (o Wran- i Forest Service, The outlying re- gel, there were 644 Russians :lgions of the Kodiak, Alaska Penin- | UR servite jependat d our drivers and 1900 Creoles, sula and part of the Bristol Bay | 0 i sl Lippencott’s Gazetleer esti- ||area are to be taken by the Warden: ppreciate the courtesy of the road. We mated the Alaska population in ||of the Bureau of Fisheries. The | have complete equipment for moving your 1655 as 61,000. Keith Johnson's &/ Aleutian Islands, part of the Bristol household goods, or the hauling of anything Atlas the same year placed the !|Bay region, and two other districts Affiliations permit us to bill merchandise to population at 00. McCul- ||in the Third Division have been as- any section of Juneau lough in his Geographical Dic- | signed to the Wild Life Agents of tionary said 72000. The old j|the Alaska Game Commission. Most !lof the native villages where the Of- n Affairs are being enumerated by the | maintains few vill ve | As the returns become available A REAL SUCCESS STORY ABOUT TRUE VALUE! Call or Phone 81 for . . . Any Kind of HAULING! North Transfer G. BATTELLO, Proprietor 223 Franklin St Phone 81 Timely Clothes In every line of endeavor ther always is at least one outstand ing success . . . Maybe it wc good fortune (we like to b it was our good judgment), we picked a winner in TIM CLOTHES. They are ‘in” Juneau men. that with Credit for picking is immateric The important fact is that Juneou men have quickly recognized TIMELY CLOTHES for their u d quality, their smart! rvative style, and their h ss value at moder surpa Qur particular good ‘fortune that TIMELY CLOTHES are sale in Juneau exclusively by th If you haven't learned about TIMELY CLOTHES co get acquainted and store, in, olf FRED HENNING “Complete Outfitter”