DR. WELLAND STRONG

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 108, 3 November 1939, Page 9

DR. WELLAND STRONG

CHARGES NO FEES

UNIQUE HEALTH DISPLAY

Most visitors to the Exhibition will pay a call on Dr. Welland Strong in the Health Department's pavilion of 'the New Zealand Government Court, I not because they feel faint or ill, but I because they will be irresistibly drawn 'to him. They will not. be treated, but he will give them a great deal of sound 'advice, all for the listening. It will not cost a penny-piece. Dr. Welland Strong is not flesh and blood, but a robot —a mechanical doc- ! tor who moves and has a voice and who has complete charge of the pavilion. His subject is that of goodi health—how to develop and preserve j it; and his story is unfolded as he j walks around, stopping at each of the displays in the 12 bays of the pavilion and giving emphasis to his remarks by moving his head and arms. It is i a most ingenious piece of work. The Health Department is responsible for the idea. Mr. C. Lewis built the doctor. Mr. A. W. Coffey, of the British General Electric Co., gave hirii life, attending to the electrical side; and the Government Studios at Miramar supervised the preparation of the doctor's remarks. How is it all done? The movement and speech are based on the use of a sound film and projector. Underneath the pavilion there is a standard 16 mm. film projector specially adapted for the use to which it is put and through- this is run a sound film carrying a record of the remarks which 'visitors will hear, and which may be altered from time to time to gjve variation. By means of <m "electric eye" device and associated control gear the doctor is automatically timed to stop at the right, moment at each bay, and, after speaking, move on again. His voice comes from a loud-speaker in' his chest;b it had to be there, because that was the largest flat area on the i body, which is of papier mache. The timing is excellent and, apart from that, the movement of the head and arms and particularly of the feet and knee joints is very clever. ■Dr.. Welland Strong, dressed in a neat tailored suit, is a young doctor, but he has acquired much knowledge and expounds sound. principles of health. From the time he leaves his consulting-room to, the ime he returns to it takes about 15 minutes. He says a great deal in that time—all of it is good, sound advice and Worth listening *°. , . "HEALTH AND HAPPINESS ) HIGHWAY." The pavilion, in the shape of an ellipse, and tlie exhibits it contains are built around this robot doctor. "Greetings; here's health to you! Welcome to the 'Highway to Health and Happiness,'" he says as the doors of his consulting-room open and he appears. He then invites visitors to go with him and he will show them how health can be obtained. First he displays a model of the human trunk. In this bay a small motion-picture shows the operation of the heart and the circulation. of the blood. At 'the next bay there is a model of a St. Helens Hospital which is to be built in Christchurch, and here the doctor speaks of infant welfare, Iri the next bay health during school life is dealt with. There are five models of a school dental clinic, swimming bath, and play grounds, and in the distance there is a health cairip. These and the other models are the work of bMr. G. R. Mansford. The next bay demonstrates health in the home, and the talk is on the subject pf nutrition, A series.< of outdoor games and pastimes is portrayed in the next bay, with a. talk on physical recreation. The dividends j that come from the observation of hygiene in industry is the theme of the next,bay, where there is a large, model factory with offices. At the next, the developmental side, of the story is completed. Here the importance of the home is stressed. PROTECTION MEASURES. The bays on the other side are devoted to the protection of good health. One shows the port health service at work. At the next, the doctor refers to the protection from disease afforded by immunisation substances. To illustrate this a healthy girl is pictured, and the futile efforts of four imps representing various diseases to attack her because she is immunised are strikingly .shown by the use of flashes of light. At the next bay the doctor and ; also the display deal with protection-against tuberculosis. Personal hygiene is dealt with next. Different phases of life in the form of a summary complete the display. "You have seen how this valuable gift of health is riot a matter of chance, but that it can be demanded as a right, if we do what is right," the doctor says, in his concluding remarks. In conception and in portrayal the whole display reflects great credit on the Department and all who have been associated with its production. Dr. Welland Strong should not lack patients. The department also has another very fine pavilion, of which the literature stall is part.