TALKS ON HEALTH.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20538, 13 February 1935, Page 14

TALKS ON HEALTH.

Preventing the Spread of Infection. r BY A FAMILY DOCTOR. If a case of infectious disease occurs in your house it is your bounden duty to do all you can to prevent the spread of infection. So far as lies in your power, keep the patient isolated. Do not let the other children play near him. Do not kiss the patient “ goodnight ” and then go into the other room to kiss the other children; kissing is a splendid way to carry germs. Spoons and plates should be set aside for sole use in the sick-room. A spoon, carelessly washed, may easily be the means of carrying the disease. So no kissing and no spooning. Handkerchiefs, pillow-cases and all personal garments must be washed alone, apart from the other household washing. The patient’s washing may be put to soak in a bath containing water to which has been added. When father goes off to work in the morning he ought not to go into the sick-room first. lie ought to shout “ good-bye ” through the door. He may throw precaution to the winds, enter the room, get covered with germs, go downstairs and put his overcoat on,arrive at the office, cast off his overcoat and scatter the infection all over his typist. Such a course is very unkind to others, and I must put you on your honour to do all you can to protect your comrades in the office or workshop. May I remind you that fresh air is an excellent preventive against infection? Fresh air in the house, fresh air in the sickroom, fresh air in your lungs. Send the other children out to play: if it is sunny give them their lunch and let them play in the park all day. Open the windows of the sick-room as wide as they will go. In Cases of Fever. During a feverish illness the skin gets clammy and uncomfortable, and a tired and exhausted patient is very grateful to a nurse who will give him a wash all over. The warm sponging will often induce sleep better than any sleeping draught. Before you begin to uncover the patient get everything ready. You must not expose your patient and then find you have forgotten the soap and run into Mrs Brown’s next door while the patient gets pneumonia. Think what you will want first—clean nightgown, towels, sponge, hot water in the kettle and cold water to add to it. etc. The face and neck can be washed before the body is uncovered. Then do the two arms under the armpits, and all over the chest. Work quickly, and dry the skin with a warm towel. Then turn the patient on his si le and do his back. This is very important, especially with old, thin or very feeble patients. The back must never be allowed to get sore over the bones. Watch very carefully for the first sign of soreness. Dry the back w T ell and put on some powder. Put on the clean nightgown to cover arms and chest, lay a light shawl over the chest. Now finish off the legs, doing the work thoroughly. Now give him a clean handkerchief with just a touch of scent on it and brush his hair. And if he does not say, “Ah. that’s nice! ” and fall into a peaceful slumber, call me a Quack. A Mistaken Idea. The view that we will do nothing until a child complains is thoroughly mistaken. Why wait until your little girl of five writes to the “ Star ” and begs to complain that the vertebrae of her spine are not quite in the right place, but show an abnormal deviation from the straight? Oh, no! Kings must not wait for the complaints, or •they will get their heads chopped off. Remember Charles the First. “ Well, that is all very nice,” you say, “ but, after all, we are taught that little children are under the special care of Providence, so why need we worry ? ” A very unkingly statement, that. You ought to be proud of being King in your own household, and cheerfully take up the burden. After all, you brought the children into the world; you will be a shabby person if you fail in your duty towards them. Why put the blame on Providence? We have been given our brains to think with, and our hands to work with, and we ought not to push off our earthly responsibilities on to the shoulders of Providence.

You do not expect Providence to wash the children or put them to bed. How ridiculous to leave your children in a dirty condition and then, when you are hauled over the coals for it, say, “ Ah, well, Heaven knows best.” Well, it is lucky I am not a candidate for Parliament; I should not get a single vote. I often bully you and scarcely ever flatter you. The truth is, dear people, that I get a little tired sometimes; it is uphill work, and there is so much to be done for the children that you could help me with, and. alas! it remains undone. Never mind what you would do if you were King. You are a father.