Hygienic Institute for LaSalle, Peru & Oglesby

100 Years

Yesterday

• LaSalle County one of the 7 riches counties in the US.

• Located Illinois river• Industrial communities• Located on Illinois Michigan Canal• Served by 3 Rail Roads• Surrounded by rich agricultural lands of corn

belt.

• Bus lines between LaSalle/Peru and LaSalle and Oglesby

• Major industries zinc, and cement and coal• Clock, watch making, sheet zinc, machinery,

sheet metal and tool industries.• Share High School and Chamber of Commerce.

• 1863 LaSalle Irish settlement/ Peru German• Later Polish, Italians and by 1914, 30 nationalities.• Diversified national origin. Language• Work with adequate wage.• Pop. LaSalle 12,800, Peru 9,000, Oglesby

4,000

• FW Matthiessen – Public Spirited Citizen great influence on growth of LaSalle.

• 1900 Matthiessen and Hegler Zinc Company was the largest zinc plant in the US

• Bought out bankrupt Western Clock Company 1887 made new company Westclox

• Donated electric light plant and Water Works• Mayor LaSalle 10 years.

• 1913 advice Dr. Philip Chancellor proposal for Health Dept. for Tri Cities with named Director• Assistant health officer one from each city.• Located LP High School grounds

• Founded 1914 by Mr. F W Matthissen• Incorporated under laws of Illinois 1917 as corporation without profit for protection of people LaSalle, Peru & Oglesby and preventative medicine.• Only endowed health dept. in US

Hygienic Institute

• Fundamental obligation of a community is the protection of the health of it’s people.

1. Sanitation2. Water Requirements3. Promote proper sewage systems4. Safe guarding of food5. Protection human life against accident and

prevention disease due industrial process6. Prevention of diseases spread thru carriers, insects, foods and fluids.

7. Laboratory service for chemical and bacterio- logical analyses of water, sewage, milk, etc.8. Recording and analysis of vital statistics for measure of the control of communicable disease.

• Prevention of disease diptheria, small pox and scarlet fever.

• New ordinances and enforcement.• Garbage pick up June 1914• Campaign against outdoor privies• Inspection stores, restaurants, dairies• Quarantine regulations

NOTICE

Throw no kitchen garbage, tin cans, manure, or other rubbish in this alley or in the diamond, The city ordinance requires that kitchen garbage, tin cans and empty bottles shall be kept in covered water-tight garbage cans. Stable manure must be kept in covered boxes and shall be hauled away at least every two weeks.By Order of the Board of Health.

School Nurse

1914 School nurse held inspections of children in a good light by a window. Children were marched by as nurse inspected hands, face, head and throat. By end of 1915 no further cases of ringworm, impetigo and only 18 cases of lice in the public school.

First year 1000 visits made to schools and 15 hundred children were examined.

Emma Matthiessen Chancellor Memorial Infant Welfare Station

• Became a division of Hygienic• Education to give mothers and prospective

mothers instruction in infant care.• $60 worth of milk distributed free each month• First year 2098 visits were made to home by

nurses.• Eighty-seven hundred quarts were distributed.

Birth and Death Records

• Birth and death reported to city clerks by MD• Burial permit obtained from local registrar.• Births not always accurate since reported by

MD but not checked for accuracy.• Way to track incidence of disease.

Laboratory ServicesThroat culturesWidal test for diagnosis Typhoid FeverSputum exams and Urinary sediment tests for

diagnosis of TBExam pus smears for diagnosis of gonorrheaBacterial and chemical analysis of waterChemical analyses of stomach contents Exam of blood smear for pernicious anemia or luekemia

1915

• Incinerator• Parochial schools included in medical

supervision• Anti-tuberculosis work with PT nurse• Housed medical library for doctors• Numbers of deaths from Diptheria dropped

from 47 in 1914 to 16

Public Health Talks

The Wrapping of BreadThe Questions of the Insanitary PriviesSafety First in Public Health WorkSwat the Early Fly

• Little Mother’s League• Isolation Hospital to control communicable

diseases (One hundred fifty feet from IVCH)• Board picked for Isolation Hospital became

Hygienic Board.• Turned over approx $162,000.00 in bonds to

benefit the inhabitants of the community.• Legislative bill – “Coleman Act”- Authorize the

Organization of Public Health Districts and Establishment and Maint. Of Health Dept.

• Eye, Nose, Ear and Throat Clinic • Contract with Peoples Hospital for

superintendent for Isolation Hospital to determine nursing staffing, cooking and janitor service.

• Isolation Hospital Open House Oct 5 and Oct 6th, 1918. Built to accommodate 28 patients.

• 1919 Recorded transmission of Venereal Disease by MD. Hygienic duty to demand persistent treatment.

• 1924 Most privies eliminated.• Since 1914 not a single milk-borne disease.• 140 fewer deaths than in 1915.• Dr. Ailes, MPH hired in 1925.• 1926 Mrs. Adele Blow and Mrs. Edna

Matthiessen daughters of founder fuurnished money for addition of 2 nurses.

• Automobiles were purchased for nurses• Purpose of Hygienic is to prevent disease,

preserve life and promote better health.

• Hygienic becomes Registrar of Vital Records for LaSalle, Peru and Dimmick Townships

• Vaccinations started with Smallpox epidemic.• 1930 City of LaSalle won National Health

Contest.• 1932 Club started making contributions• 1934 Dr. Ailes was appointed to committee to

help revise Rules & Regs of State Dept Public Health

• 1937 Grant to purchase xray machine for early findings TB in HS students

• 1939 Education of immunizations against whooping cough, diptheria, small pox and scarlet fever

• 1941 Provide physicals for child entering school• 1944 Mental Hygiene Clinic• Diagnostic Speech Clinic• 1945 Child Guidance Clinic Psychiatrist and

Social Workers

• 1946 Petitions County Board of Supervisors for Hygienic to become County Health Dept

• Two rapid Treatment Centers for patient with syphilis. Were cured in these centers in 9 days instead of 2 to 3 years.

• 1950 weekly dental clinic.

• Voters of LaSalle County passed referemdum for County Health Dept. which started 1987

• Hygienic was the Tri-City Health Dept for 73 years even though public health act passed 1943

• Hygienic was certified as a local public health dept by IDPH thus received funds until 1990

• 1990 to 1995 paid by LCHD for services it provided.

• 1996 Affiliated with IVCH and reinvented itself

• 1996 Started with primary care under Dr. Curry’s supervision – M. Crist APN

• 2003 Dr. Kara Fess – Medical Director and part-time physician.

• 2005 Certified as a Rural Health Clinic thru appeal to governor when unable to meet low income standards in LaSalle County.

Hygienic Institute Community Health Center

• Paid by encounter - patient face to face with provider

• Family practice to all ages• Dr. Fess Full-Time Medical Director• Nelle Barnes Full-time APN• Maryfran Crist Part-time APN• Ginger Brainard PhD – Pediatric Psychologist 4

to 6 hrs. weekly

Community Services

• Lab Clinic• Immunization Clinic• Sexually Transmitted Clinic thru LCHD• School and Sports Physicals• TB Testing• Birth and Death Certificates if born or die in

LaSalle, Peru or North Utica• Accept Medicare, Medicaid, Private Ins. or self-

pay.