Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Home Demonstration Women Help Battle Tuberculosis in North Carolina

Why were Home Demonstration women volunteering at and promoting chest X-rays? Before the discovery of an antibiotic that was effective against tuberculosis, the disease was a serious health problem in North Carolina. Chest x-rays could uncover the disease.

The following is from a “Cooperative Program Between the North Carolina Tuberculosis Association and the Organization of Home Demonstration Work” in North Carolina. The poster is an example of an educational aid used in the discussion of prevention. It is from a county health department in Troy, N.Y. For more information on TB in North Carolina, the N.C. Museum of History has an online exhibit at http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/exhibits/healthandhealing/topic/13/ and Western Carolina University’s Digital Heritage has an article on sanitariums online at http://digitalheritage.org/2010/08/sanitariums/.

The Problem:
The public lacks necessary information about tuberculosis, a disease with a high death rate. Cases are often discovered late and a large number of unknown cases exist throughout North Carolina. When TB is discovered, patients face long waiting lists for expensive treatment. People fail to recognize the seriousness of the problem, and that recovery is slow. When the disease is arrested, patients and families need help adjusting and to keep the disease from reoccurring.

The Tuberculosis Association will consult and furnish printed materials, visual aids, speakers, background information, and sessions with home agents.

Home Demonstration agents will attend training and arrange programs on tuberculosis to be presented to home demonstration club members at one meeting a year, preferably in October or November.

Home Demonstration Club Members and Health Leaders can (1) see that families at the “end of the road” know of facilities available and are encouraged to use them; (2) help arouse public sentiment to promote necessary facilities; (3) In some cases, help getting persons to clinics; and (4) help patients when they return home so that they can maintain their health and not have to return to the sanitorium.

Aims Through Adult Education:
--To give public the general facts about tuberculosis, its causes, prevention, and treatment.
--To develop desirable attitudes toward the disease which will call forth habits and practices necessary to prevent its spread.
--To inform the public of the local situation and what facilities are available to combat it.
--To urge maximum use of present facilities and create a desire for obtaining whatever is needed for better casefinding, treatment, rehabilitation, and family service.

Tuberculosis Association Executive Committee:
Kemp D. Battle, Rocky Mount, President; Dr. H.F. Eason, Wilson, Vice-President; Elizabeth Smith, Goldsboro, Secretary; T.W. Steed, Raleigh, Treasurer; Dr. M.D. Bonner, Jamestown; Dr. Derwin Cooper, Durham; Rowland L. Garrett, Elizabeth City; Mrs. W.T. Smither, Winston-Salem; Frank W. Webster, Raleigh, Executive Secretary.

Field Secretaries:
C. Scott Venable, Western District; Nelson W. Stephenson, South Central District; Anne Mann, Northeastern District; Sarah Peatross, Southeastern District; James Thomas, Northwestern District; Mrs. Velma T. Joyner, Negro Health Educator

County Level:
A tuberculosis association is organized in the following counties: Alamance, Beaufort, Buncombe, Burke, Carteret, Catawba, Cleveland, Craven, Durham, Duplin, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Hertford, Lenoir, Mecklenburg, Martin, Nash, New Hanover, Onslow, Pasquotank, Randolph, Richmond, Rockingham, Rutherford, Stanly, Wake, Warrant, Wayne, and Wilson.

Home Demonstration State Staff

N.C. State College, Raleigh--I.O. Schaub, Director; John W. Goodman, Assistant Director; D.S. Weaver, Assistant Director, Ruth Current, State Home Demonstration Agent; Anamerle Arant, Northwestern District Agent; Mrs. Esther G. Willis, Southwestern District Agent; Lorna Langley, Northeastern District Agent; Nell Kennett, Western District Agent; Mrs. Verona Lee J. Langford, Eastern District Agent; Mrs. Mary McAllister, Southeastern District Agent; S. Virginia Wilson, Nutritionist; Pauline Gordon, Home Management Specialist

A&T College, Greensboro—Mrs. Dazelle F. Lowe, Western Negro District Home Agent; Wilhelmina R. Laws, Southeastern Negro District Home Agent; Mrs. Ruby C. Carraway, Northeastern Negro District Home Agent; Mrs. Bessie R. Ramseur, Negro Subject Matter Specialist.

County Level:

A Home Demonstration Agent serves in each of the 100 counties, and a Negro Home Demonstration Agent in 46 counties. There are 79 assistant home agents.

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