Annual report of the Department of Health, Ontario, Canada.

  • Ontario. Department of Health
Date:
[1939]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Department of Health, Ontario, Canada. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/226 (page 10)
    PUBLIC HEALTH ADMINISTRATION John T. Phair, M.B., D.P.H., Chief Medical Officer of Health. In 1883 the Provincial Legislature of the day vested in the hands of the municipal authorities, through local boards of health, the responsibility for carrying out such public health measures as were thought to be in the best interests of the community as a whole. The obligations so placed, dealt largely with the control of contagion and the prevention of nuisances. Even today the public interest in health matters is in the main limited to the control of communicable diseases and environmental sanitation. While procedure and practice have materially changed, the machinery for implementing the control measures is identical with that in effect two generations ago. This type of local administrative set-up, which provided for an appropriate body (the local board of health) responsible to the municipal council; a medical officer of health whose only necessary qualification was that he be a physician in good standing, and one or more sanitary officers whose qualifications were not even implied, has obvious drawbacks. The disadvantages are particularly manifest in suburban and rural communities. The implication that the natural advantages of rural existence offset the disadvantages of living in a congested urban community, is not in keeping with the known facts in the matter of controllable illness or physical defect. It would seem reasonable, therefore, that a community health service based on such an implication should be revised in keeping with the established facts. The ultra-conservative at¬ titude of the public, coupled with an insistent demand for the retention of local autonomy, however, makes it difficult to create any widespread interest in a modification of the present set-up. In 901 municipalities approximately 700 health officers function, 687 of whom are employed part-time. The remuneration paid ranges from $15.00 to $7,000.00 per annum. In the majority of these communities the medical officer of health takes the responsibilities of his office seriously. In all of the organized municipalities the health officer is aided in the conduct of his duties by one or more sanitary officers. In the majority of instances the sanitary officer devotes only a portion of his time to this work. In 140 of the urban centres and 4 townships, public health nursing is supplied under the auspices of the local board of health. In 154 communities school nursing is carried on under the aegis of the local school board or board of education. In only 14 municipalities is the local health effort directed by a full-time medical health officer. Changes During the Year. In 39 municipalities the position of health officer changed hands during the year 1939. In 13 of these, presided over by 11 medical officers, the change was due to the death of the former incumbent of the office: Doctors F. Munroe, O. E. Carr, A. D. Graham, H. J. Walker, C. H. Carruthers, H. E. Johnson, D. C. McKenzie, H. H. Casselman, G. C. Ferrier, H. E. Ferguson and H. Hay. Temporary retirement from the office in 15 additional municipalities fol¬ lowed enlistment in Overseas Forces by the following 11 medical officers: Doctors W. R. Crowe, W. H. Pedley, G. L. Bell, R. E. Smart, J. B. Willoughby, G. M. Fraser, G. Allison, G. E. McCartney, K. B. Waller, L. M. Stuart and C. V. Mulligan.