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(Circulation. 1950;2:736.)
© 1950 American Heart Association, Inc.

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The American Heart Association as a National Voluntary Public Health Agency

W. P. SHEPARD M.D., M.A.

The role of the voluntary health agencies in this country is well understood. Tuberculosis, blindness, venereal disease, cancer, and other major public health problems have been attacked by them with notable success, some for as long as 50 years. There is a well established pattern of cooperation with official health agencies and with organized medicine.

In its newly added role as a voluntary public health agency, it is important for the American Heart Association to understand these principles and patterns that are discussed here briefly with special emphasis on partnership with nonmedical community leaders, the relationship with the official agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, and on socialized medicine. Good public health work by voluntary organizations is a manifest of the concern of the medical profession with the health of the public and our first bulwark against compulsory government controlled medicine.