1972-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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i i i 18 Barnstable County Health Department 1972 Annual Report i' The year 1972 has been one of expansion and changes. Mary Susich retired as County Health Officer on January 31st and an acting administrator, Esther G. Howes, was appointed until July 1st when she became County Health Officer. There has been a re- placement in the position of Junior Sanitarian. There are now { ! four staff working with the State funded Handicapped Children's Clinic. There has been a vacancy in one of the two Nurse Director positions since February. There have been reclassifications of 5 positions in order to bring salaries into line with current local and state guidelines. Four new positions had been requested but were not made available. j The one Nurse Director has been able to provide consulta- tion and supervision to some 64 public health nurses who work in schools and Home Health Agencies. Considerable emphasis has been placed on helping the professional advisory committees and the nurses in the Home Health Agencies so that standards of care and appropriate agency policies are available, and state and federal guidelines are met. Educational programs have been provided reg- ularly in order to improve quality of care and to provide for ex pansion of services; cooperative planning has involved the local chapters of voluntary health agencies. The development of more comprehensive school health services has been continued, for the third year in one town, and for the first year in another. This work a has begun with a restatement of the purpose of health programs {I in schools, a request for a waiver of certain state regulations in order to implement a different program, and has led to efforts to y identify children's individual needs early, to develop systems of carrying out important screening techniques, and to arrange co- ordinated planning for children with special health needs. School systems are being encouraged to look at the responsibilities of ' school nurses, and roles of school pyhsicians, at policies pertaining to the administration of medication and treatment at school, at the differences and similarities in the processes in health services and in health education. 1 i