New Denial Clinic Opened

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 217, 14 September 1936, Page 12

New Denial Clinic Opened

FUNCTION AT COLLEGE STEEET SCHOOL

Providing facilities to replace a service that had been carried on in temporary accommodation in tho headmaster’s room, a new dental clinic, a two-roomed building, was opened at College Street School on Saturday by Mr. J. Hodgens, M.P. Colonel J. 11. Whyte, chairman of the Dental Clinic Committee, presided, and there was a fair attendance of interested citizens.

Apologies for. absence were received from Colonel J. L. Saunders (Director of the Schools’ Dental Division), Mr. E. It. Hodgo (architect to the Wanganui Education Board), the Mayor (Mr. A. E. Mansford) and Mr. J. A. Nash, all of whom extended best wishes for the success of the clinic.

After extending a welcome to Mr. Hodgens and Mr. W. G. Black, chairman of the Manawatu-Oroua School Committees’ Association, Colonel Whyte stated that the dental clinic service had been started about 13 years ago and up till about seven years ago was free. The experience in Palmerston North had been that, because the servico was free, it was not respected; appointments wero not kept and the nurses’ time was not fully occupied. Seven years ago each clinic committee was called on to pay £3O and tho charge had to bo passed on to the patients. Then, when the parents found they were having to pay, they sent their children along. To-day there were 2000 children on tho local committee’s rolls and four nurses were employed. Colonel Whyte thanked members of tho committee for the way they had worked and paid a tribute to the services of the hon. secretary (Mr. F. G. Murphy). He thanked Mr. Hodgo and tho board’s -workmen for tho interest they had shown, and Mr. Hodgens for his efforts in obtaining a subsidy for tho building, and tho department for granting it. Ho expressed the committee’s indebtedness to Messrs W. A. Swinbourn and L. J. Plank, headmasters of College Street School, for having allowed the use of their room for the purposes of the clinic for the last two years, at inconvenience to themselves. He further thanked tho headmasters of tho various schools in Palmerston North for tho assistanco they had given to the committee in collecting the fees. The nurses, Colonel Whyto proceeded, were doing a very valuable work. The president of the local branch of the Dental Association had told him that they looked on the dental clinic as a great boon to them. The clinic was treating children who would be a source of worry to the dentists, and through tho gentle treatment that they were receiving at the hands of tho nurses, the children were losing fear of afterservice in the more imposing rooms of tho dentists. The school dental servico was getting the children into the habit of having their teeth examined every six months, and the further the service was extended, the better it would be for tho people of New Zealand. The service was open to rich and poor alike; no child was barred becauso his or her parents could not pay; if tho latter desired treatment lor their children and could not pay, the school committees would. The only children barred were those whoso parents would not sign a consent form to have their children attended to.

Mr. Hodgcus paid a tribute to the ladies and gentlemen who were working in the interests of tho children, and said there must be 300 such workers in Palmerston North. This work was something to bo proud of and something that tho Government could not fail to show its appreciation of. Mr. Hodgens expressed the hope that the clinic would prove successful in every way, and read the following message that he had received from the Minister . of Education (Hon. P. Fraser): — “I dosiro to assure you that the Gov’ernment is anxious to provide a complete service for the whole of the schools at as early a date as possible, and is pursuing a policy designed to accomplish this within a reasonable period. This year wc have increased the number of trainees from 30 to 51 and, in addition, tho building of a new training clinic in Wellington is projected. When this clinic is completed, it is proposed to bring the number of trainees up to 100 and by this means, within a period of live years, it is hoped to'cover the whole of the schools of the Dominion. May I express the hope that tho ciinic which you are opening tomorrow will prove to be successful in every way." Tho mind of the Minister, Mr. Hodgens, proceeded, was to make tho school dental service one of more general application, and the speaker expressed tho belief that the new clinic would be the forerunner of others in this district. The work that was being done would be of immeasurable good, and he trusted that success and happiness would attend the labours of all who had anything to do with tho clinic. Mr. Hodgens then declared the building open, after which the visitors were entertained at afternoon tea by the clinic committee.