The Health Movement of 1923
Washington State launches a campaign to convince residents that an annual check-up is as essential as a regular dental visit.
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Human bodies, like automobiles, need annual examination for trouble spots, warns the Washington Department of Health, which has joined in the national campaign for 'a health examination on your birthday.' Washington state hopes to take the lead in the national campaign to foster ten million examinations before July 4, 1924. Twelve hundred and fifty physicians in the state have been supplied with the health examination form, designed by the American Medical Association, as the first step in the state work. More than eight million dollars in human lives was lost last year in this state from preventable diseases alone. Yearly examination of men, women and children will detect incipient diseases, ward off possible future ills, and prevent possible untimely death. Most intelligent people nowadays consult a dentist every six months to have their teeth looked over. If a small cavity is found, it is filled and a large cavity does not result. The same general theory holds good for the body.
“Human bodies, like automobiles, need annual examination for trouble spots.”
Preventive healthcare campaigns of the early 20th century were often framed through industrial metaphors, likening human bodies to automobiles or machinery to resonate with an increasingly mechanical culture. Today, the debate has shifted from encouraging basic check-ups to the systemic costs and barriers that make such care inaccessible for many, though the 'annual physical' remains a standard pillar of the medical establishment.
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