|
|
Home > Healthy Living >
Women Inspiring Hope and Possibility > Sara Josephine Baker
Sara Josephine Baker
(1873-1945)
LINKS ON
THIS PAGE
Overview
Education and Training
Career Path
Selected Achievements
Child and Adolescent Health Today
CDC's Role
Tips to Help Keep You and Your Children Healthy
Related Links
Overview
Sara
Josephine Baker was born in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1873. She made
significant contributions by helping to establish some of the first programs
in preventive medicine and public health. She died in 1945.
Education and Training
- Medical
degree from the Women’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary for
Women and Children
- Although
she had not intended to become a physician, she decided to study
medicine to support her mother and family after her father’s death. She
applied to this institution because it was the only school of which she
knew that would accept women.
- Internship
at the New England Hospital for Women and Children
- Doctorate
in public health from New York University-Bellevue Hospital Medical School
- She was
the first woman to receive a doctorate in public health from this
institution.
Career Path
- Medical
inspector for the New York Department of Health, followed by assistant
commissioner of health
- Director
of the newly established Bureau of Child Hygiene
- President
of the Babies Welfare Association, later called the Children’s Welfare
Federation of New York
- Consultant
to the federal Children’s Bureau
-
Representative on child issues to the League of Nations
Selected Achievements
-
Established a city-wide school nurse program
-
Prevalent cases of head lice and the eye infection trachoma dropped to
nearly zero.
- In the
summer of 1908, nurses educated mothers in their homes on how to take
care of their babies, resulting in 1,200 fewer cases of infant death
than the previous summer.
- Developed
a program that included strict examination and licensing of midwives by
the city
- Developed
a fool-proof dispenser for administering silver nitrate to newborns’ eyes
to prevent gonococcal infections and subsequent blindness
- Tracked
down Mary Mallon ("Typhoid Mary"), a cook who was linked to a typhoid
epidemic
Child and Adolescent Health Today
Infants and
young children are at high risk for injuries for many reasons. Children are
curious and like to explore their environment. This characteristic may lead
children to sample the pills in the medicine cabinet, play with matches, or
venture into the family pool. Young children have limited physical
coordination and cognitive abilities. This factor can lead to a greater risk
for falls from bicycles and playground equipment and make it difficult for
them to escape from a fire. Their small size and developing bones and
muscles may make them more susceptible to injury in car crashes if they are
not properly restrained.
The health of young people, and the adults they will become, is critically
linked to the health-related behaviors they adopt. Certain behaviors that
are often established during youth contribute markedly to today’s major
killers, such as heart disease, cancer, and injuries. These behaviors
include: tobacco use; unhealthy dietary habits; inadequate physical
activity; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that can result in
HIV infection, other sexually transmitted diseases, and unintended
pregnancies; and behaviors that result in violence and unintentional
injuries (e.g., driving while intoxicated). These behaviors place young
people at increased risk for serious health problems, both now and in the
future.
CDC's Role
CDC continues
to build on the work done by Sara Baker.
CDC is involved in many efforts to keep children safe. It supports programs
that include increasing child safety seat use; preventing injuries related
to residential fires; increasing bicycle helmet use; preventing child
maltreatment; and increasing access to poison control services.
CDC also seeks to prevent the most serious health risk behaviors among
children, adolescents and young adults. Activities include:
- Conducting
surveillance in all 50 states to monitor priority health risk behaviors
through CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, the School Health
Profiles, and School Health Policies and Programs Study
-
Synthesizing research findings to identify policies and practices that are
most likely to be effective in promoting healthy behaviors among young
people
- Funding
statewide programs for coordinated school health that address tobacco use,
poor nutrition, physical inactivity, asthma, and other health issues
- Assisting
state and local education agencies in evaluating the quality and
effectiveness of their school health policies, teacher training, and
curricula
Tips to Help Keep You and Your Children Healthy
- Wash
your hands frequently, and remind others to do the same. You and your
family should use soap and water for 15-20 seconds (long enough to sing
the “Happy Birthday” song twice) before, during, and after you prepare
food, before you eat, after you use the bathroom, after handling animals
or animal waste, when your hands are dirty, and more frequently when
someone you are around is sick. Alcohol-based hand rubs may be used as an
alternative.
- Protect
your children from injury. Unintentional injuries are the leading
cause of death in children from 1-21 years of age. The leading causes of
fatal injuries in children are motor vehicles, fires/burns, drownings,
falls, and poisonings. About 140,000 children are treated each year in
emergency departments for traumatic brain injuries sustained while
bicycling. You can reduce your child’s risk for the following:
- Motor
vehicle injuries:
Use age-and-weight-appropriate motor vehicle child safety seats for
infants and children up to age 4; use belt-positioning booster seats for
children who have outgrown their child safety seats; use car seat belts
on children when they fit these belts properly, usually at about 4 feet
9 inches tall; and be sure that children age 12 and younger ride in the
back seat. Never operate a motor vehicle after using alcohol or other
drugs that impair driving.
-
Fire/burn injuries: Install smoke alarms in your home, make a family
fire escape plan, and practice the plan every 6 months.
-
Drownings: Do not leave children unattended when in or around
bathtubs, buckets, toilets, and swimming pools. Be sure children wear
personal flotation devices (i.e. life jackets) in and around swimming
pools, ponds, lakes, and other open water areas.
-
Injuries from falls: Be sure that children on home and public
playgrounds are supervised, particularly on climbing equipment and
swings. Be sure equipment on which your child plays is well-maintained
and that ground surfaces are made with material that reduces fall
injuries, such as shredded rubber, wood chips, wood fiber, and sand.
-
Poisonings: Post the poison control number 1-800-222-1222 on or near
every home telephone; store all medicines (including those of visitors),
household products, and personal care products in locked cabinets that
are out of reach of small children; place carbon monoxide monitors near
the bedrooms in your house to monitor air quality; and check your house
for lead-based paints.
-
Traumatic Brain Injuries: Be sure that you and your family (bicycle
operators and passengers) wear bicycle helmets at any age, whenever, and
wherever you bicycle. Be sure that bicycle helmets meet the standards of
American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Snell Memorial
Foundation, or American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).
- Reduce
your baby's risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
SIDS is the sudden, unexplained death of an infant under 1 year of age,
and it is the leading cause of postneonatal death (death among infants
aged 28-364 days) in the United States. To reduce risk for SIDS, place
your baby on his/her back to sleep. Remove fluffy bedding and toys from
your baby’s sleep area and make sure your baby’s face and head stay
uncovered during sleep. Do not allow smoking around your baby, and do not
let your baby get overheated during sleep.
- Keep
food safe from harmful bacteria. Wash hands and surfaces often; don’t
cross-contaminate utensils, dishes, or surfaces when cooking; cook foods
to proper temperatures; and refrigerate foods promptly.
- Talk to
your health care provider about immunizations. Adults and children
should get appropriate immunizations depending on their age, lifestyle,
and other factors.
Related Links
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/
An Ounce of Prevention Keeps the
Germs Away*
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/op/
Baker, Sara Josephine*
http://search.eb.com/women/articles/Baker_Sara_Josephine.html
CDC's Division of Adolescent and
School Health
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/
CDC’s National Center for Environmental
Health
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh
CDC’s National Center for Injury
Prevention and Control
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/
CDC's Preventive Medicine
Residency
http://www.cdc.gov/epo/dapht/pmr/pmr.htm
CDC's Reproductive Health
Information Source
http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/
Dr. S. Josephine Baker*
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/
biography_19.html
Fast Stats:
Accidents/Unintentional Injuries
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/acc-inj.htm
FightBac Campaign to Reduce Foodborne
Illness*
http://www.fightbac.org (Non-CDC site)
Healthy
Youth: An Investment in Our Nation's Future*
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/about/healthyyouth.htm
Immunization
Schedules
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/default.htm
Infant Health
http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/Infant.htm
Infants’ and Children’s
Health Topics
http://www.cdc.gov/health/nfantsmenu.htm
Injury
Control Recommendations: Bicycle Helmets*
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00036941.htm
Injury Fact Book, 2001-2002*
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dash/about/
Injury Fact Sheets
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/cmprfact.htm
Preventing the Flu:
Overview*
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/preventing.htm
Sara
Josephine Baker: Physician and Public Health Worker*
http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/baker.html
SIDS: Back to Sleep
Campaign
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/sids/sids.cfm
(Non-CDC site)
Back to Sleep
Campaign Door Hanger*
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/sids/doorhanger.htm
(Non-CDC site)
Stopping Germs
at Home, Work, and School
http://www.cdc.gov/germstopper/home_work_school.htm
Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome, United States, 1983-1994
*
ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Publications/mmwr/wk/mm4540.pdf (page 859)
Post-Neonatal Surveillance- United States, 1980-1994
*
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss4702.pdf
Trachoma: Technical Information
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/trachoma_t.htm
*Used as a
source for this Web page.
This site contains documents in PDF format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader
to access the file. If you do not have the Acrobat Reader, you may download a
free copy from the
Adobe Web site.
Home | Site Map |
Contact Us
Privacy Policy |
Disclaimer | Accessibility
CDC Home |
Search |
Health Topics A-Z
This page
last reviewed March 26, 2004
URL: http://www.cdc.gov/women/owh/history/baker.htm
US
Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Office of Women's Health
|