WIDE SCOPE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 27, 12 November 1947, Page 4

WIDE SCOPE

Health Department’s Work In Schools CONSULTING ROOM ATMOSPHERE SOUGHT lii its work in the schools the Health Department was committed to a fairly large and comprehensive programme, said Dr. G. D. McLeod (Medical Officer of Health) speaking to a meeting of parents and teachers of Ashburton East School in the Hampstead Memorial Hall last evening.

Letters were sent to all parents of new-born babies about the diphtheria immunisation scheme, he related. Until 'the infant was a year old it was then left in the hands of the Plunket Societies. From then until it was of school age, five years, it was seen at either the Plunket rooms, the preschool clinic and the kindergarten. Of his department’s functions in the primary schools, Dr. McLeod stated that schools were divided into two groups —those with rolls of under 100, and those of rolls of 100 or over. Those schools in the first category were inspected once every three years, and sometimes, more often. In the case of the second group every child was examined as he or she entered, and the nurses annually examined pupils .of Standards II and VI for defects, which were referred to the doctor.

Insufficiency of Staff

This scheme of things breaks down because the department has not sufficient staff to cope with the work, said the medical officer. The Timaru health district, he said, stretched from the Rakaia River to Shag Point, just north of Palmerston, and back to the Alps. As he had no school medical officer he, as medical officer of health, had to take on the work of examining children. In spite of staff shortages, however, the inspection of 83 schools would be completed by the end of this month, said Dr. McLeod. Where staff shortage affected the department most was in its work in the High Schools where, as pupils left, they were submitted to a very thorough examination. . In carrying out the examinations in the schools “we are getting the consulting room idea,” said the speaker. It was. important, he said, that the parent should speak to the doctor alone. If the parents did not come along when their children were being examined, the value of that inspection W a© very much reduced. To achieve this consulting room objective required the co-operation of school teachers and committees. Of the facilities made available to him at Ashburton East he expressed great satisfaction. “Little Wild Animals” This new conception, of examination the speaker contrasted to the old method where mothers sat round the wall of a room while children in various etages of undress milled around the centre and were inspected on the principle of “little wild animals.” “We want to correct defects, no matter how small, in the early stages, so as to prevent established disease,” stressed the doctor.

Turning to the work of the department’s nurses, Dr. McLeod said that there was an idea that they spent most of their time preparing statistics about diphtheria. He admitted that a little of such work was necessary. After the doctor left the school, it was the nurse’s job to go round visiting the homes of children, not as a bureaucratic civil servant interfering with the freedom of the parents, but with the object of helping and advising. In this personal contact with the family group the nurse became the corner stone of the whole system, he emphasised. The incidence of tuberculosis could be controlled and eradicated only by the work of conscientious and good nurses, stated the speaker, who referred to their activity in tracing contacts, a factor of importance in dealing with the disease. • Dr. McLeod urged the immunisation of children against diphtheria between the ages of six and 12 months, the natural immunity against the disease inherited by the child from the mother passing only after about six months. -Then, when the child reached five and entered school, it received one more dose, a booster, making it completely on top of the disease. Mental Aspect of Child In dealing with specific defects in children, the speaker said that there were two aspects of the child that should be paid attention to-—physical and mental. The mental side of the question comprised a large field which had not been touched as much as it might have been. Faulty nurture or upbringing, the speaker instanced as being a background to mental defect. He knew of a case of a child who was thrashed because it stammered—this in New Zealand in the year 1947, said the officer. The difficulty was first to bring up good parents, because if you want good children you must have good parents, he said. “We want to help parents over problems of childhood so we can have healthy and happy children,” he concluded.' Mr .T. K. Mather (chairman of the Ashburton East School Committee) presided.