Arlena Bateman
T00554734
History 4250
Tracy Penny Light
Reading Log #6
February 26, 2018
Mary Ellen Kelm’s article, “Doctors, Hospitals, and Field Matrons” focuses on the lack of medical attention Aboriginal people received compared to the priority that was given to the non-native community. It reveals that many physicians were reluctant to work in such rural areas, and many of the healthcare workers that were recruited, lacked the necessary qualifications. It was also noted that there was a high turnover rates of physicians as well in these areas. An example of a poorly qualified physician in Lytton was charged with “incompetence and carelessness”[1] further supports the substandard care that was accessible to these remote communities. Kelm found that some bands had to be proactive in retaining physicians to their communities as shown when a Comox Band had to petitioned for a qualified doctor for their community. Without taking matters into their own hands, many communities would have been without any medical care. The healthcare facilities claimed the staff shortage to these areas was due to the lack of funding. However, Kelm found that many Aboriginal communities actually provided funding and gave monthly grants in order to receive the medical care. It was also revealed that this funding was used to pay non Aboriginal people’s medical bills.[2] This only reiterates the disparity in care towards the Aboriginal people versus the non-Aboriginal. Not to mention that doctors would rarely travel to the Aboriginals in need of care and yet made house calls to non-native people. The author provides a very strong case of the race inequalities that the aboriginal people were subjected to within the healthcare system regardless of the money that they poured out in the hopes of obtaining the care they deserved.
Catherine Carstairs article, “Expertise, Health, and Popular Opinion: Debating Water Fluoridation, 1945-1980” reveals that there was mistrust towards the medical professionals by the general public despite an era known for its progressiveness nature, “1950s and early 1960s as a time of faith in science and medicine, technological optimist, and belief in experts.”[3] This statement is refuted by the fact that the public opposed and voted against the fluoridation of water that was presented by the Dentists and Doctors. A simple measure that was proposed as a means of preventing tooth decay, yet still met with resistance is an example of the lack of trust felt by the general population. Carstairs shows how advances in technology actually caused skepticism and uncertainty of what the public believed and if they could trust the decisions of the healthcare professions to be in their best interest. The article emphasizes this lack of trust during a time when people were expected to have “faith in science and medicine.”[4] The opposing views of the public towards the simple implementation of the proposed fluoridation of the water contradicts the trust in all healthcare decisions. This uncertainty and ability for the public to vote against a recommendation examines the shift of trust. This article is interesting due to the fact that majority of people do not question doctors and other medical professionals. As people usually agree with what they promote as they are well-educated medical professionals. Carstairs shines light on the fact that this began to change in this time period and there was a shift towards uncertainty that everything doctors promoted may not be safest for the environment or the individuals partaking.
Cynthia Comacchio’s article, “‘The Rising Generation’: Laying Claim to the Health of Adolescents in English Canada, 1920-70” focuses on the shift to provide knowledge to youth regarding different health matters as a means to prevent certain diseases. The primary focus is in regards to the sexual education and the lack of knowledge young teenagers had. Comacchio provides statistics to support this argument, “infected girls in the 14 to 17 age range had apparently risen 50% over the year of 1941-1942.”[5] These dramatic statistics reveal the interest of healthcare professionals to address education needed within the youth, which were seen as the “young problem.”[6] This article examines that as society changes and develops, new practices have to be put into place. It examines the challenges faced by Doctors during this time who were searching to find answers of defining normal for age groups “typology of ideal traits held to define what was “normal” in each life stage.”[7] It examines the challenges to categorize how this knowledge is received in regards to the age, gender, race and class. The disparities in relation to those factors also dictates the knowledge individuals receive. As modernization continues this article addresses the need to implement new regulatory practices.
Alexander H. Leighton’s chapter, “Barriers to Effective Mental Health Care” examines the broad variety of mental health illnesses and the differing views different cultures have. This article also focuses on the obstacles faced when it comes to proper health care for the mentally ill which needs to be implemented. However, Leighton furthers these implementations that need to be made by explaining the overwhelming amount of people who need this care and the lack of professionals that have the proper training, as well as facilities that can afford to fund these intensive needs. Leighton shines light on the multiple challenges faced when it comes to mental health care with such a high demand and the lack of resources in order to provide the care for each individual faced with challenges such as these.
Bibliography:
Carstairs, Catherine, “Expertise, Health, and Popular Opinion: Debating Water Fluoridation, 1945-1980,” Canadian Historical Review, 89 (2008): 345-371.
Comacchio, Cynthia, “‘The Rising Generation’: Laying Claim to the Health of Adolescents in English Canada, 1920-70,” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 19 (2002): 139-178. https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/cbmh.19.1.139
Kelm, Mary Ellen, “Doctors, Hospitals, and Field Matrons.” In Colonizing Bodies: Aboriginal Health and Healing in British Columbia, 1900-1950, Vancouver: UBC Press, 1998: 129-152. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.tru.ca/lib/trulibrary ebooks/reader.action?docID=3412353&ppg=154
Leighton, Alexander H. “Barriers of effective Mental Health Care.” In Caring for Mentally Ill People. London: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Endnotes:
[1] Mary Ellen Kelm. “Doctors, Hospitals, and Field Matrons” In Colonizing Bodies: Aboriginal Health and Healing in British Columbia, 1900-1950, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1998), 133
[2] Ibid, 139.
[3] Catherine Carstairs. “Expertise, Health, and Popular Opinion: Debating Water Fluoridation, 1945-1980,” Canadian Historical Review, 89 (2008), 346.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Cynthia Comacchio. “‘The Rising Generation’: Laying Claim to the Health of Adolescents in English Canada, 1920-70,” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 19 (2002), 157.
[6] Ibid, 140.
[7] Ibid, 143.
