HEALTH OF THE YOUNG.

Otago Witness, Issue 3854, 24 January 1928, Page 18

HEALTH OF THE YOUNG.

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE. WORK OF SCHOOL MEDICAL SERVICE. ’ It is generally admitted that the average New Zealand school child is a healthy animal, and, in fact, statistics show that the health of the dominion’s younger generation compares more than, favourably with that of any other civilised country. Nevertheless, although our children; have many natural advantages., the Education and Health Departments have realised, in the past few years, th.it they are not justified in a sense of false security, and that there is yet much that can be done to improve the standard of physical wellbeing of the country’s future citizens.

Thus, there came into being the School Medical Service, the motto of which might well be “ an ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure.” The principal work of the service, of course, consists of the medical inspection and supervision of all primary school children, frequently of those in kindergartens, and sometimes, by special arrangement, of children belonging to secondary schools. Each child is examined three times during its school career—as an entrant, in the middle, and at the close of its school life. The parents are notified of defects observed, and advised as to the best treatment. Common amongst these defects are dental caries and defective eyesight, both of which if neglected would have a serious effect on the child in after life, and which, but for the work of the medical service, would probably remain undiscovered. Then there are children who, through heredity, malnutrition, or other causes, are physically unfit to cope with the ordinary school routine, and for these special provision is made. More important even than the actual examination is the personal touch established with the parents, sometimes by the Medical Department, but more frequently by the nurses of the service. These are trained nurses, numbers of whom have seen war service, and the value of their work cannot be over-estimated, as they establish contact with the homes, explain the necessity for treatment, and frequently take children to hospital for treatment when the mothers are unable to do so.

More as a preventive than as a curative measure, special attention is given to the hygienic conditions of the schools and education in health matters generally; but various special lines of prevention have also been adopted. Following an investigation, the Health Department recently launched a scheme for the prevention of tuberculosis, which included special supervision of children, who may have an hereditary taint of the disease, or w’ho have been “ contacts,” and duiing the past year some hundreds of children, have been cared for in this manner. Prophylactic inoculation against diphtheria has also been carried out for some years, and several thousands- of school children have been rendered immune to the disease.

Of late the Medical Department has also been co-operating with the Department of Education in a new scheme of physical education designed to have a more beneficial influence on the health of the child. Included in this scheme are various nutrition classes, somewhat on the lines of the methods adopted at the Fresh Air School, special classes for speech defects, and, by arrangement with the Massage Department of the Dunedin Hospital, classes for remedial exercises. Thus, the weak child is assisted, and the strong child prevented from developing defects, deformities, or ill-health. Now, a new phase of work is in its early stages of development—the care of the “ pre-school ” child or the child from two to five years of age. When this branch is properly organised, it will link up with the other schemes and make one continuous oversight of the child until it leaves school. In time, therefore, no fewer than four special organisations—-ante-natal, Plunket, pre-school, and the school medical service—will guard the health of our future citizens at every vital period of their early life.