Page:LewisMeriam-TheProblemOfIndianAdministration.djvu/264

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Health
237

A similar lack of interest was shown at the daily sick roll. Over seventy children filed into the dispensary one evening, the majority coming for “eyes.” They were rushed through quickly. The fact that trachoma treatment was given in several cases was noted and, on a closer examination, the eyes being treated were found to be healthy. These children’s eyes needed refraction and not the irritating solution they were receiving. A question was raised regarding one girl suffering from trachoma. She was reported to be a regular dispensary case, but the child denied having been in for treatment since her first examination over six months previously, and the only available record substantiated her claim. She said that the drops hurt her eyes and she did not want to come.

Although the type of service rendered by this physician was known, he was subsequently transferred to another reservation where he says he prefers to work.

Physicians now connected with boarding schools are not generally giving any definite instruction in health to pupils, thus neglecting a very valuable opportunity for service.

An outstanding exception to this type of routine, pro forma service should be mentioned. The physician at one school has perhaps the most complete educational and medical background of any physician encountered. His diagnostic ability in general medicine and tuberculosis was evidenced by the number of cases on record, and his records were the most complete and intelligible found. They covered all the pupils in the school and many Indians in the jurisdiction. Several cases were examined in his presence and the findings independently arrived at subsequently compared with his records made six or more months previously. With the exception of one case, the notes corresponded in each instance.

It is commonly said in the Indian field that the practice of obstetrics is difficult if not impossible among Indians, especially full bloods. This service has generally been rendered by women relatives or friends, Indian midwives, or medicine men whose methods are crude and often brutal. How high a mortality results from their practices is not known, but obviously it must be excessive, especially in the case of the primipara.

Indian women, especially in the less advanced tribes, are loath to permit a white person, either physician or nurse, to attend them