Social Work; Essays on the Meeting Ground of Doctor and Social WorkerCabot, Richard C. (Richard Clarke)
Science
Social Work; Essays on the Meeting Ground of Doctor and Social Worker
Cabot, Richard C. (Richard Clarke)
Charities, Medical; Friendly visiting; Medical social work -- United States; Social service
But there has come another signal advantage in the point of view adopted
by Calmette in his dispensary campaign--the point of view, namely, of
public health and public good. It has freed us from the limitations
contained in the old idea that a dispensary is an institution concerned
solely with the poor. Tuberculosis, of course, like every other
infectious disease pays but little respect to distinctions of property.
From the point of view of the State a tuberculous individual is as
dangerous to others and a cured tuberculous patient is as valuable as a
possible asset to the State, whether his income is above or below a
certain figure, whether, in other words, he is inside or outside the
imaginary group sometimes called the poor. From the institution of
tuberculosis dispensaries with their home visitors in America, the
poverty of the individual ceased to be a necessary badge for admission.
Especially since many of our dispensaries have been instituted and
maintained by the State, and therefore are paid for by all its citizens
in their taxes, any one so unfortunate as to acquire tuberculosis, or be
suspected of it, feels himself wholly justified in seeking help at a
State-maintained tuberculosis dispensary. In this respect, as in many
others, the campaign against tuberculosis has had a value far greater
than its measure of success in checking that disease. It has introduced
methods which were applicable outside the field of tuberculosis. One of
these, as I have already said, was the utilization of the home visitor.
A second was the disregarding of property lines. A third was the frank
and confident reliance upon scientific measures and the relegation of
eclecticism and quackery to the hands of those who make no pretence at
scientific education or honest dealings with the public.
IV
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account