Poor Health

CHANCE OF A LIFETIME:
​​​​​​​The Civilian Conservation Corps

POOR HEALTH

("One of the Enrollees Next Stops is at the Doctor's Office for Innoculation Against Typoid and Vaccination Against Smallpox" The CCC at Work 21)

Most enrollees were in poor health. Penniless and often homeless, these young men did not have access to doctors, dentists, or even basic hygiene. The CCC provided all of this starting with physicals and vaccinations on enrollment.  Camps were staffed with doctors and dentists. First aid courses were required for all enrollees. Starting in 1933, camps instituted daily calisthenics programs.

"Even though corpsmen were given a physical on enrollment, the camp doctor could reject the applicant if he felt he was unfit. The doctor instructed the men in personal hygiene and gave periodical medical checkups. In addition, he taught first aid to all enrollees. Two trained medics assisted the doctor." (Semo 12)

(The CCC at Work 19)

("These were selected as being in the poorest physical condition -- out of 
     75 boys at Camp #7" fs.fed.us)

"The Corps was acutely aware of the poor physical state of the young men joining the New Deal program. According to the physical examinations of 100,000 enrollees conducted during the late 1930s by the army’s Office of the Surgeon General, approximately 75 percent of the young men entering the Corps fell below what the army considered an acceptable weight and therefore more prone to, or were already suffering from, physical ills such as tuberculosis, hookworms, and nervous exhaustion." (Maher 93)

(Cohen 10)

"Most of us, first time to have a toothbrush, first time to have a vaccination, first time to have a daily bath, all these firsts." (Harley Jolley qtd. in Charles Rivers 10)

(Cohen 75)

(Handbook for Enrollees 8)

("CCC dentists will go to patients in Idaho" Oregonian)

"During the year [1939], CCC dentists made 223,968 permanent fillings, 35,384 temporary fillings and extracted 134,833 teeth."  (Annual Report, 1941, 20)

(Cohen 58)

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