Medicine: Health Inventory

Within a fortnight an army of health investigators will deploy upon the householders of the nation to get answers to a quarter-billion questions. Last week the general staff of the quizzing army established headquarters in Detroit, whence they will manage operations in five great areas: 1) Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota. 2) California, Oregon, Washington, Utah. 3) Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas. 4) New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia. 5) Ohio, New York, Massachusetts.

Purpose is to make an inventory of the nation’s health, especially of the chronic diseases and disabilities which impede people from earning enough money to live on. Some 3,500 quizzers, operating under the general direction of George St. John Perrott, chief statistician of the U. S. Public Health Service, will canvass 750,000 households with questions such as these:

What is your occupation?

Are you a member of an industrial sick benefit association?

Are you a War veteran?

Did you ever have smallpox, diphtheria?

Do you suffer from asthma, Bright’s disease, bronchitis, cancer, tumors, varicose veins, any other chronic disease?

What doctor and hospital looked after you ?

How many rooms in your house? How much rent do you pay? How much money did the family earn last year?

Did you receive any Relief last year? All answers are to be guarded in strict confidence.