The History
of the Tuberculosis Association of Ohio County |
| The Tuberculosis
Association has conducted it's own seal campaign, the Holiday Seal
campaign since 1971, soliciting only the people of Ohio County and providing services and
programs exclusively for Ohio County residents. The result of the association's
desire for autonomy was a law suit initiated by theALA in an attempt to seize all assets
currently held by the association, even those raised independently of the annual
"Christmas Seal Campaign". These attempts were not successful. During 1970 and
1971 a total of 3521 x-rays were taken in the Association's office. This service could not
have been provided had the Association decided to participate in the national
organization, as this was just one of the programs which would have been cut. During the late 1970's, a new and more deadly disease appeared as threat to humanity. HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, was identified. This disease ability to compromise the immune system allowed long dormant undiagnosed cases of tuberculosis to break free. There had been a 5% decline annually in new cases of tuberculosis since the 1950's and a 94% reduction in the mortality rate due to the evolving drug therapy. This was soon to change by providing chest X-rays for those testing positive with the skin test. In 1992, the Surgeon General of the United States deemed second-hand smoke as a known carcinogen. This prompted the association to develop smoking cessation classes to be offered at no cost to the community. As the mission of the association expanded to include all respiratory diseases, grants were made available to a local non-profit health services provider. Wheeling Health Right was awarded grants to be used for the purchase of respiratory medicines, primarily inhalers for asthmatics. Project Breathe Easier
Compiled: January 1998
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