Health of the Community

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 199, 20 May 1936, Page 5

Health of the Community

Sir, —with your indulgence, I would seek a little space in which to voice an opinion anent. the important subject of the “health of the community” as outlined in Ulrie Williams’s letter appearing in your correspondence columns this morning. As a qualified health culturist I agree with Ulrie 'Williams in his remarks wherein hq cites the point of wasted or misdirected energy, and would add that while on the surface the promotion of health camps appears a forward move,

in reality it is simply amplifying the crying need for far greater attention to the system which permits of such a state of affairs.

A health camp under present conditions is touching the surface ouly, and the work of health-building is commenced at the wrong end —after the trouble has set in. To the practical mind it is at. once evident that best and lasting results are only procurable when the foundation has been set down on a well consolidated base in the form of understanding of the principles of life. If only the sympathy and financial assistance now expended on health camps could be directed at an organised effort to place the same understanding in the homes of this fair country's people the necessity for advertising our shortcomings in the form of healtji camps would soon disappear. There is no doubt that a better understanding of nature's laws is gradually being ailopted by the thinking peoples of all nations, and this fine little country of ours, with its natural potentialities and comparatively small population, has a wonderful opportunity to offer its sons and daughters a physique and constitution second to none, thus providing the resistance to disease which can only come through the powers built up by tho body itself. Is it not a fact that an important step in the phase of life is completely lost at the point where the I’l.unket system ends and the care of the child devolves on the parents? From my observations it is quite obvious that some system should take over where the I’lunket system finishes, say, at the age of four to five years, as it is here that understanding on the part of otherwise earing parents falls short, and it cannot be gainsaid that an opening is made for possible constitutional weaknesses which do not always prove amenable to treatment later. A surprising fact which proves the truth of these statements lies in the knowledge that malformation and under-nourished children are found in homes where financial difficulties do not arise.

I am aware ot several cases of malnutrition due solely to ignorance on the part of parents and doubt very much the efficacy of health camp measures unless environment is radically improved. As the time appears most opportune for greater ideals, why not create greater incentive for correct understanding of the human machine equal to that of the industrial machine, and thereby bring about complete efficiency in general? It might he permissible for me to state that the publication of health notes, in my opinion, is futile, as they do not penetrate to the proper quarters, or, if they do, uro not understood or are liable to misconception in their technical phraseology. If the growth of health camps is to be sponsored in the belief that such is a remedy for a faulty social system, then our future men and women will surely take the Hues of least resistance and rely on stteh measures to correct the trouble. In conclusion, sir, I would say, by all means permit those who have commenced work in the direction of health camps to continue their efforts on existing material offering for curative purposes, but let us see to it that they are soon out of work by instituting something more tangible.—l am, etc.. NUTRITIONIST.