WORKING FOR HEALTH

Taranaki Daily News, 3 October 1932, Page 9

WORKING FOR HEALTH

AIM OF SYDNEY ACTIVITY

CARE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

NEW SOUTH WALE'S. METHODS, y

“After nearly 20 years of public work I am convinced, that much of the relief given has been to the effect and not to the cause,” said Air. George Fitz Patrick, chairman of the Food For Babies Fund in Sydney in reference to the care of women and children in New South Wales when questioned by a News reporter last night. Until recently, lie said, the relief generally given had been similar to the application of a soothing ointment to a cancerous growth, whereas the proper treatment would have been an excision. The board of the Food For Babies Fund and the Dalwood Health Home, of which he is chairman, aimed not merely at cure but also at the prevention of illness. Air. Fitz Patrick said tliat over 25,000 bottles of milk had been distributed by the fund last year, because it was held that if the mother got sufficient milk for her children there was less likelihood of illness. The fund also gave special service to the community in the way of preventing mothers from worrying. Mothers requiring state aid, widow’s pension or child endowment were assisted gratuitously, for to such women officialdom was generally a very real terror. The fund also co-ordinated charitable relief as far as was within its own purview. Such mental help, he sa<id, was as much appreciated at the tftne as any physical help that could be given.

MAKING CHILDREN HEALTHY.

The Dalwood Home, which Air. -FitzPatrick described as the “Home of health on Happiness Hill near Manly,” was unique in that it took without payment mothers with chilidrten. who were in need of care. That meant that, if necessary, a mother could go to tho home with her baby, or several children, and receive expert attention. No other activity provided such assistance. For mothers who had to be surgically or medically treated in other hospitals the home was also a great boon, for she could rest assured that her children would not be left uncared for in her absence; she could send them to the Dalwood Home and join them there upon her discharge from hospital.

Wonderful results had been achieved at the home with children who were suffering from mal-nutrition, continued Mr. FitzJPatrick. They were treated with oranges and milk and were soon sufficiently built up physically to be able to withstand considerable ill-bal-anced rations upon return to their homes. Lady Game, wife of the Governor of New South Wales and patron of the home, had dogmatised to the extent of saying that the average healthy child was a good child and there was no doubt that the children at Dalwood were both healthy and happy. “It is recognised that the criminal classes are recruited from the ranks of the ill-nourished and badly conditioned boys and girls,” concluded Mr. Fitz Patrick. “A healthy body often means a healthy brain, and the attention that is being given to children’s bodies is turning many of them into valuable members of the community. It has been well said that ’a nation marches to greatness on the feet of its little children’.”