TASK OF HEALTH CAMPS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27471, 4 October 1954, Page 12

TASK OF HEALTH CAMPS

FINE SERVICE TO CHILDREN TALK BY SIR EDMUND HILLARY By buying health stamps, the average man and woman could help the less fortunate child to take full advantage of New Zealand’s natural heritage of sun and fresh air, said Sir Edmund Hillary in a broadcast talk on the Health Stamp campaign last evening. The first camp, organised by Dr. Elizabeth Gunn at Turakma in 191 s, had only 55 children for two weeks under canvas, but each year now the health camps throughout New Zealand could accommodate upto 2500 children, he said. _ ' “The thing that has always puzzled me is . . . where do all these children come from?” he said. “I’d always looked on New Zealand rather as a paradise for children. We haven t the depressing slums, the smoke and tne fog, or the poverty, of many of the less fortunate countries. It’s not very hard for most of us to get out into the clean wholesome air, to swim and sunbathe on our innumerable beaches, to scramble through our magnificent bush or on our rugged mountains, or just to walk through our green countryside. “In spite of all the natural advantages of the Dominion there are still many children in New Zealand who are suffering from subnormal nutrition and numerous other complaints. Unlike many other countries, there are no children’s hospitals in New Zealand, and special hospitals should not be necessary if defects in the health of the children are checked in the earliest possible time. And this is what the health camps try to do. Their object is to provide a necessary change of environment and a scientifically regulated daily routine for those children who are run down, suffer from persistent colds, bronchitis, asthma, or who are convalescing after illness,” said Sir Edmund Hillary. It was mainly proceeds from the sale of health stamps that maintained health camps.

Problems of Finance Sir Edmund Hillary said he understood the problem of being limited and controlled by finance. Before leading his recent expedition to the Himalayas he himself had spent a great deal of time worrying about finance. Such questions had arisen as, “Have we enough money for food?” “Can we afford a few' more porters on the mountain?” and “When we get out to civilisation again will we have enough money left to pay off our coolies?” After visiting the Pakuranga health camp on the outskirts of Auckland, Sir Edmund Hillary said he felt that sympathy and understanding were the keynote of the whole camp. “7?he children were blossoming under it and if all of them had been ill when they came into the camp they showed no sign of it now,” he said. “I drove away feeling I’d seen something really worthwhile —less fortunate children being helped towards the healthy happiness of a normal child—the best foundation. I feel sure, for good citizenship in later life.

“The health camps deserve our wholehearted assistance and the stamps are a relatively painless method of giving it. To all those who have consistently used health stamps. I have this to say: it is your generosity that has enabled the camps to do wha* they have done. I would appeal mainly to those who, like myself, have very rarely or never bought health stamps. From tomorrdw onwards the stamps are available at all post offices. I would heartily recommend their use—it is only a small sacrifice that can reap substantial rewards in terms of happy children,” Sir Edmund Hillary said.