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44 To PRAGMA
organization has always a community responsibility. A rural social
worker would be shortsighted indeed who did not recognize not only
the opportunity for doing so-called community organization the de-
velopment and correlation of community strength and versatility -but
also the imperative necessity for doing this if she is to do more than
scratch the surface.
The field for such work in the Kentucky mountain region is most
inviting—the more tempting by reason of being so untouched, so un-
organized. Community organization usually implies centralization and
unification of already organized, but inefficiently functioning, commun-
ity effort. In the Kentucky mountains there can hardly be said to be
organization of community effort in any sense of the word. With impu-
tation so scattered, the frequent and varied associations which tend to
produce group action and ambitions are almost totally absent. A few
jieople live in small villages. Many more are scattered along lonely
creeks and in the heads of numerous hollows. The term ''Community"
can be applied to them only in the sense that they live under similar
environmental conditions, are subjected to common hardships and iso-
lation, and have developed a characteristic outlook on life. The task is
the slow arduous one of building up a realization of how much can be
done by the pooling of effort; awareness that there is more one can do
for one's needy neighbor than one has hitherto thought possible or called
for; a sense of responsibility for doing the most possible with the ma-
terial at hand. The task will, of necessity, be slow if it is to be funda- caused his lameness is arrested, but he will always be lame. As Pavey
mentally sound. Present ways of thinking and doing are centuries old.
Much that could be done well with unlimited resources must be done
as well as possible with very limited resources.
The Frontier Nursing Service has always recognized its responsibil-
ity for using and developing community resources. Local jjeople serve
on its district committees and help to formulate the policies of this
organization which has become an outstanding community service. The
community can always rely on the support of the Frontier Xursing Serv-
ice in efforts for community betterment of whatever kind. The organiza-
tion has seen the community significance attached to the making of its
own gardens and pastures and orchards models in the use of improved
methods. The addition of a social-service department to the work of the
Frontier Xursing Service should mean increased contact with the com-
munity as such; increased opportunity for and facility in discovering
points at which community interest and effort may be focused; increased
use of community impetus and strength; and for the people them-
selves, a more acute awareness of the nature of local problems and
responsibility for doing the utmost toward their solution. Perhaps as
this department grows and finds its field it will develop that a more
formal program of community work should be included in its function.
The field of recreation is one of the first that suggests itself for in-
corporation in such an undertaking. Sex irregularities, a sure source for
social problems, seem so unquestionably associated with inadequate
recreational outlets that a social-work program can ill afford to ignore
the need in this respect. The whole economic structure is even more
JANUARY, 1 9 3 2 45
basic, when trying to get at the source of social ills. It is a factor
of which no agency, of whatever kind, working among the mountain peo-
ple can remain unaware. Obviously there is no easy solution; but like-
wise obvious is the necessity for including this factor in all one's think-
ing. Mountain schools (such as Hindman, Pine Mountain, Wither-
spoon College), mission stations, agricultural experiments, the Frontier
Nursing Service, et cetera, do not form an imposing array in terms of
meeting the whole need of the Kentucky mountain people* In terms
of representing an enlightened, optimistic, progressive public opinion,
groups such as these are probably more powerful than they themselves
yet realize. If there is to be found an escape from the economic dilemma
in which the region finds itself, the pooled experience and strength of
organizations such as these should go far toward finding the solution
itself and effecting its realization.
But enough for the broad outlines of the field. What is there that
a social worker will find herself immediately concerned with doing?
Perhap- this can best be told in terms of some actual "cases" now
ing.
Take the case of Pavey Mason. Pavey is twelve, with a good mind
and a lame leg. He is frail and undersized. Through the Frontier Nurs-
ing Service, he spent many months in the hospital; and the disease which
grows toward manhood in the Kentucky mountains the occupations open
to him are: farm work, on a stony mountain farm; mining; logging;
and moonshining. Pavey cannot hold his own in any of these, except
perhaps the latter, and it is exceedingly hazardous. Can better pros-
pects be created for Pavey? The least one can do is to try.
To take another type of situation. Gene Howard has tuberculosis.
Last summer he was seen by the Frontier Xursing Service doctor and
was told, first of all, that he must quit work. He has a wife, one child,
and another expected. To quit work was out of the question. He is
twenty-six years old. The disease was not in an advanced stage when the
doctor saw him and with the proper treatment there was a chance for his
recovery. He should be in a sanatorium and is willing to go, but in
Kentucky there are ten free beds maintained by the state for tubercu-
losis patients, and hundreds waiting for them. A pay bed costs fifteen
dollars a week and the Howards cannot pay that. The only alternative
is for Gene to be treated at home. Before he can even stop work the
needs of his family must be met. Fifteen or perhaps twenty dollars a
nionth would do it. with the help the neighbors would give, but small
as the amount sounds, it is an enormous sum among the mountain peo-
P'e- To Gene and his wife the tale of microscopic organism that feed
°n one's lungs and may be transmitted from one person to another is
strange and incomprehensible. If Gene is to be cared for at home, the
nouse must lx> screened, an open air porch built for Gene's bed, warm
covers and proper food supplied, and Mrs. Howard trained meticulously
o give the care needed and to protect herself and the babies from fur-
ner infection. Gene lives ten miles from the nearest nurse and she can
^ch him only on horseback.