American Lung Association of Minnesota.

The American Lung Association of Minnesota (ALAM) was organized on July 18, 1906 as the Minnesota Association for the Prevention and Relief of Tuberculosis with George C. Christian, a member of the Anti-Tuberculosis Committee of the Associated Charities of Minneapolis, as its first president. The original objectives of the association were six-fold: to distribute educational information regarding the cause, treatment, and prevention of tuberculosis; to compile and publish information concerning the statewide incidence of tuberculosis; to advocate health legislation; to cooperate with state and local authorities and other voluntary groups; to support local relief and prevention associations; and to promote the establishment of treatment facilities and services for the tuberculous. To achieve the aim of cooperation with other groups and to popularize their objectives, the Association's initial constitution extended ex-officio membership to such community and medical leaders as the state governor, the state presidents and directors of the Board of Health, the Board of Medical Examiners, the Medical Society, the Veterinary Association, the Nurses Association, the Board of Labor, the Board of Control, the Federation of Labor, and the Municipal League, as well as the superintendents of state and municipal hospitals and state and normal schools. Throughout its life span, the Association's work has primarily centered on three fronts: health education, respiratory disease diagnosis and prevention, and the funding of these activities through annual Christmas Seal sales. From the beginning, inter-agency cooperation has been a mainstay of its educational and medical programs, its legislative advocacy, and its fund raising activities.

During its formative years, the Association focused on providing treatment facilities and the advocacy of a county sanatorium system, which was enacted by the state in 1913. In 1914 the association changed its name to the Minnesota Public Health Association, reflecting the growing recognition that the control of tuberculosis was intrinsically related to other health issues. This change in name paralleled a broadening of educational and medical programs with a focus during the latter teens and twenties on the testing of cattle herds and milk products, the pasteurization of milk, the funding and training of public health nurses, free clinics providing Mantoux and X-ray diagnostic services, the statewide distribution of tuberculin for Mantoux testing, case-finding surveys, and health, hygiene, and physical education for school children. Publication of a monthly magazine, the Minnesota Public Health Association Journa l, began in 1916. This magazine continued until 1961 under the later titles: Minnesota Health Journal (1919-1923), the Northwestern Health Journal (1923-1929), and Everybody's Health (1929-1961). The reputation and mission of the Association was further advanced with the organization and mobilization of affiliated county associations in 1919.

During the 1920s and 1930s the Association continued providing testing services and compiling case surveys, but also enlarged its medical and educational programs by instituting a series of courses with the Minnesota State Medical Association geared specifically toward physicians and nurses, developing a series of poster and essay contests aimed at school students, and cooperating with 4-H in its teen health championship program. Additionally, X-ray consultation services were provided with the assistance of the Minnesota Radiological Society to promote standard film processing and analytic techniques.

Local communities and schools took the forefront in the 1940s when the Association cooperated with the American School Health Association in grading schools who met certain qualifications, which included testing students, parents, faculty, and personnel. Community health was further emphasized by the Association's promotion of a county accreditation program. Counties having a tuberculosis death rate of 10% or less per 100,000 population and an infection rate of 10% or less of its high school seniors were certified as accredited counties by the Minnesota Board of Health and the State Medical Association. Furthermore, a mobile X-ray unit was put into operation for statewide use, diagnostic services were provided for the testing of World War II service personnel, and the Association cooperated with the U.S. Department of Public Health Service in a 1947 program of mass photoflourographic X-ray surveys.

During the 1950s the Association began to provide health education workshops for school teachers and lay workers, to promote hospital admission X-ray programs, and to award the first of many research and scholarship grants. In an effort to clarify public confusion and to re-emphasize its mission against tuberculosis, the Association changed its name to the Minnesota Tuberculosis and Health Association in 1951. During this time it continued providing educational and diagnostic services for the accreditation and testing of schools and communities but also began extending its services to nursing homes, industrial plants, and service industries.

In the 1960s as tuberculosis began to come under control with the advance of drug therapies, the Association broadened its mission to cover all respiratory diseases including asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, histoplasmosis and other fungal infections, influenza, lung cancer, and pneumonia, besides tuberculosis. In 1961 questions concerning the administrative efficiency of the annual Christmas Seal campaign resulted in the reorganization of the county affiliates into eight regional districts and three local affiliates; one local for each of Hennepin, Ramsey, and St. Louis counties. Reorganization issues continued to concern the Association throughout the next three decades until 1992 when the Ramsey County organization merged with the state association. In 1964, in conjunction with its affiliates and the American Thoracic Society, the Association awarded the University of Minnesota the first of an ongoing $20,000 grant to fund a teaching position in pulmonary diseases. In 1967 the name of the Association was changed to the Minnesota Respiratory Health Association to reflect the Association's broadened focus and to avert potential public criticism regarding the use of Christmas Seal funds and the then lowered incidence of tuberculosis.

The Association again changed its name in 1973 to the Minnesota Lung Association to more closely identify with its parent affiliate, the American Lung Association (ALA). Programs during the 1970s included the screening of tobacco smokers to measure breathing capacities and to detect cases evidencing early symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Breathing classes for persons with asthma, bronchitis, or emphysema began to be offered and summer camps for asthmatic children were established. Many of the programs during this time focused on tobacco and the effects of smoking. These programs included smoking cessation clinics and a mobile education unit to teach school students about the respiratory system and smoking's adverse effects. In 1974, in cooperation with the Minnesota divisions of the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association as well as the state departments of health and education, the first D-Day (Don't Smoke Day) event was inaugurated. This event reached national popularity in 1980 under the sponsorship of the American Cancer Society and is still held each November as the Great American Smokeout. During this decade the Association also began to augment its Christmas Seal fund raising with a series of canoe, bicycle, ski, and hiking trips. Legislative work included joining with the Association for Non-Smokers' Rights (ANSR) to lobby for the 1975 passage of the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act.

In 1981 the Association again changed its name at the insistence of the American Lung Association to the American Lung Association of Minnesota. During the 1980s and 1990s the Association again broadened it mission by including environmental risks, such as air pollution, agricultural hazards, radon, and sick buildings in its educational and diagnostic programs as well as continuing its legislative and educational campaigns against tobacco.

Throughout its existence the Association has considered its educational mission as the public's foremost need and has implemented this cause through the use of exhibits, bulletins, posters, pamphlets, films, special events, media publicity, public service announcements, a speakers bureau, workshops, and testing clinics. As stated in its 1986 bylaws, the purpose of the Association has been refined from its original six objectives to the single goal of preventing and controlling lung disease. Over the years its executive secretaries and directors have included Christopher Easton (1909-1913), Hibbert Winslow Hill (1914-1915 and 1918-1920), Ignatius J. Murphy (1915-1918), Linda James (1920-1921), William F. Wild (1921-1924), E.A. Meyerding (1924-1957), Josiah G. Neal (1958-1970), and Dorothy Berg (1971- ).

Historical information was taken from the collection and from the book, Invited and Conquered: Historical Sketch of Tuberculosis in Minnesota, by J. Arthur Myers and published by the Minnesota Public Health Association in 1949.

From the guide to the Association records., 1907-1994., (Minnesota Historical Society)