CHILDREN'S HEALTH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 211, 6 September 1941, Page 12 (Supplement)

CHILDREN'S HEALTH

NEW PRE-SCHOOL SCHEME

PLUXKET SOCIETY VENTURE

A system of examination of preschool children is to be startea at the Auckland Plunket headquarters on Monday. This will "bridge the gap between-the time when the average mother dispensesHaithuthe "Plunket Society care for her child and the time when the child commences school. The society is co-operating in this with the Health Department, and the doctor who is to examine the children is employed by the Department. Mrs. J. C. Allan, the retiring president of the Auckland Plunket Society, stated that the average mother dispensed with the society's care when her baby was about two years old, and from this time until the child went to school many defects in health frequently arose. To combat this the mothers were asked to take their children from the age of 18 months to five years to the Plunket headquarters for examination by the doctor there for the purpose. The children are to be thoroughly examined.

No charge is to be made for these appointments, and they are not to be confined to mothers of Plunketreared children. A Plunket nurse will be in constant attendance with Dr. Rhoda Robb, the medical examiner.

The work is to be definitely preventive, to stop abnormalities arising and to enable the child to be sent to school in perfect health. In the case of the Plunket children, their case cards, already filed at headquarters, will be filled in again by the doctor, and finally handed to the school doctor when the child starts school. The idea of continuity is thus to be effectively carried out.