No official records of health activities during the Japanese occupation are known to have survived World War II. Health services were offered free of charge, but most of the civilians were reluctant to go except in dire emergency.
Factors that helped the island achieve good health during the war:
ENTHUSIASTIC VACCINATORS
Americans were enthusiastic about vaccines and sufficient "herd immunity" may have been established to prevent the spread of disease among the island.
NURSES TREATED THE ISLAND
The role of the native nurses that were trained before the war played a big part of the island's good health. By the time the Japanese closed the nursing schools, there had been about eight-to-nine graduates. The nurses alongside Dr. Ramon Manalisay Sablan, the first Chamorro doctor, administered health care to majority of the island.
RETURN TO FOLK MEDICINES
Among the many problems they faced, one of the biggest was shortage of medicine. The Japanese had seized all drugs. Although the nurses were able to smuggle some medicine, they often had to go back to using locally available home remedies. The period was a rebirth of a practice that had been threatened to be extinct.
Factors that helped the island achieve good health during the war:
ENTHUSIASTIC VACCINATORS
Americans were enthusiastic about vaccines and sufficient "herd immunity" may have been established to prevent the spread of disease among the island.
NURSES TREATED THE ISLAND
The role of the native nurses that were trained before the war played a big part of the island's good health. By the time the Japanese closed the nursing schools, there had been about eight-to-nine graduates. The nurses alongside Dr. Ramon Manalisay Sablan, the first Chamorro doctor, administered health care to majority of the island.
RETURN TO FOLK MEDICINES
Among the many problems they faced, one of the biggest was shortage of medicine. The Japanese had seized all drugs. Although the nurses were able to smuggle some medicine, they often had to go back to using locally available home remedies. The period was a rebirth of a practice that had been threatened to be extinct.