Nurses of the Public Health Nursing Association perform two main services: Caring for those already ill, and helping the healthy keep free of disease.
The Ann Arbor city health department has no nurses on its staff, so the nursing association assists the department in checking up on suspected cases of communicable disease and in conducting clinics where children of low-income families are immunized against smallpox, diphtheria, whooping cough.
One of the Public Health nurses is shown above aiding Dr. John A. Wessinger, city health officer, in immunizing a girl during a clinic.
The nurses also are kept busy every day answering calls from persons who are bed-ridden at home, or need a bandage changed; from new mothers who need help and advice - and from others with almost every kind of request. They work under physicians' orders.
Their fees are adjusted to the income of the family, and many calls are made without charge. Contributions to the Community Fund, whose annual campaign opens Monday, help maintain this public service.