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Community Health: A health manpower report prepared by the National Commission of Community Health Services showed that the U.S. hospitals and health organizations were maintaining the ratio of 150 doctors per 100,000 population only by filling out one-fifth of their needs with physicians from other countries. The demand for health care had also created serious shortages of nurses and other paramedical personnel. Among the solutions being suggested were new methods of health care organization and government support for new or expanded education programs in the health sciences.
The content of health education courses includes topics such as sleep, rest, nutrition, dental health, grooming, safety, the effects of drugs and tobacco, family life, diseases, and community health. These topics are studied as they relate to the individual, the family, and the community. Instruction focuses upon the mental and social dimensions as well as on the physical dimensions of health. Teaching methods stress providing opportunities for the student to find and use facts in making decisions. The student is assisted to move beyond facts to the processes of generalizing and forming concepts about good health.
By providing funds, the OEO also shared in the development of the Student Health Organization, a group of students from the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, and the other health professions. The students undertook health education projects and other community health services with minimal guidance from their teachers, then returned to their universities insisting that more students in these professions should learn about the problems of the underprivileged through direct experience.
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