Wednesday, November 29, 2000

Health care in Fayette quite different 50 years ago

Editor's Note: In last month's Healthwise section we profiled the Fayette County Health Department and its ever-growing responsibilities. The Physical Health section sees an average of 1,630 clients per month, while about 60 site inspections per month are conducted by the Environmental Health staff. These figures reflect the needs of a county of more than 90,000 people.

But it was not always this way. Below is a description of the early years of the Fayette County Health Department in the words of Geraldine Stinchcomb, the department's first nurse who was honored at a special reception several weeks ago. Due to space limitations in last month's edition, we are running it today.

In 1948 Fayette County, like many other counties, was very poor and rural. It was at the end of World War II, and everything had gone into the war effort.

The county had an outbreak of several cases of diphtheria. The County Board of Health, along with the state health director, met to organize a countywide immunization clinic. Immunizations for typhoid, DPT and smallpox were offered.

The clinics were held in county stores, churches, and the American Legion post house over a three-month period. After this was completed, I was contacted by the chairman of the local Board of Health, Dr. T.J. Busey, to take the job of public health nurse of Fayette County.

In January of 1949, the Board of Commissioners rented a couple of rooms on the corner of Stonewall Avenue now occupied by Jackson Insurance Agency. The rooms had not been used for several years, but there was an old roll-top desk there left by Judge Hollingsworth. After cleaning it and finding an old orange crate to use as a chair, it became the office space.

The Women's Club of Fayetteville scouted around and collected other articles such as a used refrigerator, a table and a few chairs, and examining table and baby scales. The clinic room was ready for use. The only vaccines or biologicals were DPT, typhoid and smallpox vaccine and TB skin-testing equipment. They also gave me a cardboard box painted black with straps to carry my supplies. There was a square-shaped box heated by a light bulb to use for an incubator for babies. This was carried out to the homes when needed.

In February we opened for business. The main service offered was immunization. The clinics were held in the 21 schools at that time scattered throughout the county. Transportation was very limited and some of them were located in areas that were unable to be reached by car. At those clinics, I was met on the side of the road and carried to the school in a one-horse wagon. The driver would wait until the clinic was over and take me back to my car. At one of these schools, I had to crawl under a fence. The kids would meet me and help me with my supplies. There were no paved roads in Fayette County at that time.

School clinics were like a holiday for the kids. They would have some entertainment planned for "the Shot Lady" as they called me. I would get my supplies set up to begin the clinic. The teacher kept the records and lined the children up for their injections.

The kids had fun laughing at each other until it was their turn. Oftentimes a name was called and there would be no response. We would have to ask, "Who were you last year?" Some lived with different relatives and used their names.

Later I added a Maternal Child Health Clinic. Mothers came in for prenatal care. The only things we could offer were blood pressure, urine test and nutrition information. We had five midwives in the county, and many of the babies were delivered by them. They were certified by the state.

Once a month, we had the midwife meeting to check their bags and supplies. We usually had a picnic lunch together with everybody bringing food that we shared together. As they retired, we had a ceremony in their church and they were presented a pin from the state. This was done to let the community know they were no longer available to deliver babies.

It was not unusual to be called to go out to a home and carry an incubator for a small baby. All of my visits were out in the home until they were old enough to be brought to the office.

One particular day, very late in the afternoon, I was called out to a home for what they described as a "very small baby." I was shocked to find a very tiny baby. I knew that this baby had to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

I called the doctor, who was sick in bed with the flu, and asked him to call Egleston Hospital and make arrangements to admit the infant. After finding several hot water bottles, a neighbor and I took the infant to Egleston along with the father. I sat in the back seat with my little preemie with a flashlight and a prayer. At the hospital, the infant was placed in an incubator and weighed in at 2 pounds, 3 ounces. The baby was kept there until she weighed 5 pounds, but all the other kids in the household had measles. I felt like I lived with that family trying to keep the infant isolated from the other kids.

I also had two families with triplets that required a lot of attention. We were very fortunate to have Egleston, Scottish Rite and Grady Hospital to take care of our indigent patients.

We offered other services, such as tuberculosis screening and venereal disease testing and treatment. Fulton County had carried the known TB patients from our county, but we had to do the investigative workup on all the contacts. My job was to go out and locate contacts, do sputum test, skin test, etc. to work up patients for the X-ray clinic. The state had a mobile unit with technicians for TB and venereal disease. Positive blood tests were sent to the state technicians who did the follow-up and tried to get contacts.

Later, Batty Hospital became a hospital for venereal diseases. My job was to get the records of those who needed treatment, charter a bus and send them to Batty. The state furnished vouchers which I gave to the bus driver along with the records.

These are just a few of the services that we covered. At this time there were no disposables and very little of the vaccines that are so common now.

Most of my years as public health nurse were spent in the homes, schools and out in the field. The people were very kind and always ready to help, and always so very appreciative of your help.

There were many times I was called at night and my husband would go with me to a home. At times I even felt that I might be practicing medicine without a license, but I would think, "Lord, forgive." They needed the help, and I had to go for whatever assistance I could give.

I have always felt that public health was a great service for the people who otherwise would not be able to afford the services they required. There have been so many new advances in vaccines, medicines and equipment that are offered now.

I thoroughly enjoyed my years in public health nursing. It seemed there was always so many things to do, but never enough time. I had several other jobs, too.

At that time my husband was Sheriff of the county and I had other duties as the Sheriff's wife. It was customary for the Sheriff to live at the jail.

Sometimes I had to be "Mrs. Sheriff" for such things as answering the phone, contacting the State Patrol and even ringing the fire alarm for the town. We also had to cook for the prisoners, but I had a cook to help with this for two meals a day.

At one time, I actually had to lock up one prisoner at his request. After that experience, he never came back for a return visit. He instructed me to "lock the door and throw the key away." The next day, when they couldn't find the key and he wanted to get out of the cell, he told my husband, "I told her to lock the door and throw the key away, and I guess she did!"

After 63 years (including my years in nursing school) as a nurse, I guess it gets in your blood. I am enjoying volunteering at the Fayette Community Hospital and working at the information desk. I enjoy assisting visitors and patients and other duties that are required. I have served two years on the Auxiliary Board of Directors. One of the things I have enjoyed most is the friendship of all the other volunteers and the hospital staff. As we used to say in nursing school, "It's a great life, if you don't weaken!"