Municipal health department practice for the year 1923 : based upon surveys of the 100 largest cities in the United States / made by the United States Public Health Service in cooperation with the Committee on Administrative Practice, American Public Health Association.

  • United States Public Health Service
Date:
1926
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Municipal health department practice for the year 1923 : based upon surveys of the 100 largest cities in the United States / made by the United States Public Health Service in cooperation with the Committee on Administrative Practice, American Public Health Association. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ALLEN W. FREEMAN, M. D. School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University A. Organization and Personnel Tue Puacr oF THE HEATH ServicE IN Municrean GOVERNMENT The health service of the cities included in this survey is con- ducted almost always by a branch of the municipal government organized especially to carry on the public health activities and designated, usually, “the department of health” or “the board of health.” Only rarely are other functions combined with health service in a single administrative unit. In Kansas City, Mo., the administrative unit is designated “the hospital and health board,” and in Norfolk, it is designated “the department. of health and wel- fare.” In these cities hospital service and other welfare activities are carried on as an integral part of the work of a single adminis- trative unit which also conducts the health service, but this situa- tion should not be confused with that in those cities in which this department has a joint title but is made up of separate units of which the health service is one. | The health organization is usually a primary unit of the munic- ipal government, has equal rank with any other unit or department, and is responsible directly to the principal executive of the munic- ipality. This condition holds in 76 of the 100 surveyed cities. In 24 of the 100 cities, however, the health service is organized as a division or bureau in a major department of the city government which carries on other functions as well. In these cities the health executive is responsible not directly to the principal executive author- ity of the city, but to the head of the department of which the health service is a part. In 12 cities the bureau or division of health is a part of the department of public safety in which are included, usually, also the bureaus of fire and police. These cities are Albany, Duluth, Harrisburg, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Reading, Roches- ter, St. Paul, Trenton, Troy, Utica, and Wilkes-Barre. In 7 cities— Cleveland, Dayton, Grand Rapids, Knoxville, Minneapolis, Rich- mond, and Toledo—the bureau or division of health is a part of the department of public welfare which conducts, usually, in addition, all other charitable and relief work of the municipality. In Allen- 1
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