Alice Bassett, County Public Health Nurse, Report, Dec. 27, 1920

. . . . Fortunately we today know many precautions which may be taken to secure good health, but these precautions should begin even before a child is born into the world and should deal with the health of the parents. While few diseases are actually carried from parent to child through direct inheritance, yet children of diseased parents have weakened bodies which readily become a prey to disease. If on the other hand, the community concerns itself with the health of the school child, with the health of the adult and if proper sanitation is had, if the water supply is watched and kept pure, if the food supply is clean, if the streets are kept free from dust, if flies are regarded as the deadly menace which they truly are, if the death dealing mosquito is made impossible by the oiling of stagnant water spots, if vaccination is offered to all the people, if emergency and hospital relief facilities are universal, then we hope for a better race in the future and for greater efficiency through the preservation of community health in the present. No better investment could possibly be made for the advancement and progress of a community than securing good health for the people and every effort directed toward that end is an effort that should enlist the cooperation and support of every person in any given territory. --Alice T. Bassett, County Public Health Nurse (From The Hickory Daily Record, Monday evening, Dec. 27, 1920)