FOR FARM AREAS
Protect    Health    of
Families Having
Low Income.
By Associated Press.
BOISE, Idaho, May 2.—The "re-
pioneering" west was launched today in a new endeavor—protection
of the health of its low-income
families.
Communities in Washington,
Oregon and Idaho, encouraged by
state units of the federal resettlement administration, are studying
the organization of cooperative;
medical associations.
There are, explained L. K. Saum,
cooperative specialist of the Idaho
resettlement administration, two
objectives.
1. Providing medical facilities in
now without the serv-
of a physician or nurse. Typi
cal is a, proposed cooperative at
Grandview, in Idaho's thinly settled
Owyhee county, where a doctor
may be "imported" to serve 300
ranch families.
2. Making it possible for low-income families in communities
where physicians are available to
finance proper medical attention.
Such a cooperative would be the
Idaho Falls Rural Health Service,
Inc., which 200 eastern Idaho families  have formed.
"The associations will exact a
membership fee for each family
served, then make a yearly charge
for all services," said Saum. "Although several are in various
stages of organization in the northwest, none is yet in operation."
Benefits will include free office
consultation and treatment, emergency care and limited home calls,
physical examinations at least
yearly,     preventative
r the n
obstetrical and surgic;
"The low-income farmer may be
wiped out by unexpected medical
expenses—that is why the resettlement administration is concerned,"
Saum added.
"When budgets for these families are prepared—as is done by
the resettlement administration—
provision is made for medical cooperative membership fees."