ï~~ I [W. VA. 118 ANNUAL REPORT sity Extension Division Director and a copy of the County report was sent to the Public Health Nurse, the Farm Bureau Agent and the Home Demonstration Agent of each county for follow-up work. The Public Health Committee of the Farm Bureau Women's Club were assisted also during Farmer's Week in the outlining of their health program for the year. LITERATURE PREPARED A list of-State Agencies has been compiled and made available to all public health nurss in the field, together with a list of State Institutions which can be of assistance in the solution of problems encountered in the development of community or county health work. Also an outline of suggestive procedure for school nurses with a county wide territory to cover. Also health chore outlines, rhymes, songs, instructions, etc., have been prepared to assist the teachers in their health program. The Division cooperated during the year with the Child Welfare Commission through reports coming in from public health nurses with information concerning conditions relative to dependent and delinquent children, lack of proper care and protection, need for facilities to care for crippled children, education and protection of feeble-minded, etc., all of which is embodied in the report of that commission. During the Regional conferences of Health Officers and Public Health Nurses held in April, a full day of Round Table discussion was arranged for public health nurses in three sections of the State, Clarksburg, Charleston and Bluefield. The nurses were sent questionnaires prior to the meeting, upon which to send in questions and problems they wished to have discussed and the meetings proved interesting and profitable. Sixty nurses in all, attended these conferences. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 1923-24 Activities 1. More intensive field work in Maternal and pre-school hygiene pro gram. Full-time of one nurse. 2. More intensive work in school health program. Full-time of one nurse. 3. Limited amount of survey work-five or more counties. Full-time of one nurse. (a) To ascertain number of maternal deaths. (b) To ascertain number of deaths under five years, giving age and cause. (c) Survey of midwives and plan for some instruction. 4. Development of industrial public health nursing. 5. Concentrate our efforts primarily in counties having full-time Health Units. 6. 'Group conferences every three or four months for nurses in the field, planning definite year's program for same. Respectfully submitted, JEAN T. DILLON, Director. r i1 'sl ti i r I,R >q t y k aj'h j j Ldy q 1 1yppp k# y7 8 j Y 1 %.9 d R.,, a _ %';r a 4':r t S 1,, F. y 4', a t'. f V ], 1 y' 1 0921 VITAL STATISTICS REPORT Dr. William T. Henshaw, State Commissioner of Health, Charleston, West Virginia. Dear Sir: It gives me great pleasure to tender herewith as accurate and comprehensive a report of the vital statistics of West Virginia, for the year 1921, as it.is possible to assemble from such reports of births, deaths and marriages as were submitted to the Division of Vital Statistics of the State Department of Health. This report is compiled, first, from those reports which were assembled under the provisions of the old Vital Statistics Law which was in force up to July 21, 1921, and, second, those reports which have been forwarded to this department since that time by local registrars: these latter having been appointed in accordanece with the requirements of the new Vital Statistics Law, enacted by the legislature of 1920-1921. Under the provisions of the old law, births and deaths could be reported at any time within 0 days of the occurrence, b yany interested party. These reports were made direct to the County Clerk of the county in which the birth or death occurred. He spread a copy of the record upon the county books provided for that purpose. In February of the year following, the County Clerk gave a copy of his record to the Assessor, whose duty it was to ascertain, while making an assessment of the property, if the birth and death record of the county was complete and to add thereto the names of any missing births or deaths. The Assessor turned in this report to the County Clerk in August and in September a completed report was sent to the State Department of Health. Under this system, about 50% of deaths and 60% of births were recorded. The old system had a large number of faults. There were no interested parties whose duty it was to see that the reports were made promptly and accurately. The' reports, as turned in by physicians and undertakers, often lacked important information. They were poorly made and, in many cases, were written with a lead pencil. One of the chief objections to this system was the fact that the report reached the State Department of Health nearly a year after the original records of the births and deaths had been made. A vital statistics report has its greatest value to the health officials of the State and County; such a report is the basis of Public Health Work; it is a barometer and records the rise and fall of the health of a state and its several communities; it indicates to the sanitarian the disease spots in those communities so that he may take adequate precautions against the spread of disease and investigate the source from whence it arises. Apart from their value in connection with public health, they indicate the growth or decline of a country. The birth, marriage and death rates denote the virility, decay or prosperity of a nation. STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT 119