THE PEDIATRICIAN AND THE PUBLIC

Abstract

While visiting here last summer Dr. Edwards A. Park suggested that the experience in group practice at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital might be of interest to the readers of your column. It would be well to give a brief description of the geography and demography of the surrounding region. Cooperstown, about 20 miles from the nearest railroad passenger station with a population of three thousand, is the county seat of Otsego in Eastern Central New York State. It is twelve hundred feet above sea level in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains and has been settled since the end of the eighteenth century. Agriculture and dairy farming are the chief means of livelihood of the country folk, while in the towns, stores and occasional small manufacturing plants provide a living for others. One-third the county population is urban, one-third farming and one-third rural non-farming. In Cooperstown itself the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the New York State Historical Museum and the Farmers' Museum bring over two hundred thousand visitors each year. Some of these use our hospital facilities. The staffs of the museums, the nearby educational institutions, retired professional people and summer visitors make up another group of people among whom we practice. The county of Otsego has the oldest average age group of any county in New York State.