Public Health Station

Public Health Station

 

in the USSR, a medical-preventive institution organized at industrial enterprises, in schools, on construction sites, at sovkhozes, and so forth, usually as a branch of a medical and sanitary unit or a polyclinic. Public health stations are subdivided according to the number of people they serve into physician’s stations (headed by a physician) and feldsher stations (headed by a feldsher). Public health stations provide first aid in cases of injury, sudden illness, or poisoning; they carry out sanitary-hygienic and medical-preventive measures for improving working conditions, preventing and reducing injuries and occupational diseases, and reducing the incidence of illness accompanied by temporary loss of work ability. Necessary treatment procedures, such as bandaging and injections, and large-scale preventive vaccinations are carried out at public health stations. Medical workers organize public health volunteer groups, train all workers in methods of first aid for themselves and others in case of injury, and provide public health education.