SET-UP OF HEALTH CAMPS

Chronicle (Levin), 27 September 1947, Page 4

SET-UP OF HEALTH CAMPS

MAIN SOURCE OF ItEVENUE IS STAMP CAMPAIGN The need for retaining health camps in the hands of men and women who did not come under j Governmental .control was empha- ! sised by Mr. C. Meachen, of the Wellington central council of the N.Z. Federation of Health Camps recently. It had often been said Jthat the organisation should- come J under Social Security, but if this i was done the elasticity which was j so essential could not be obtained. Explaining the set-up of the organisation, Mr. Meachen describ- ' e dthe establishment at Otaki as the first permanent health camp, He stressed that it was a community organisation and that the main source of revenue was the proceeds from the sale of health stamps's The entire revenue of i these stamps was returned to the respective districts from which the saies originated. The King George Memorial Trust Board provided ' funds for all capital expenditure. Continuing, Mr. Meachen said that the Palmerston North district, which includes Levin, was allocated 18 beds in summer and 12 in Winter at the' Otaki Health Camp. The maintenance of these beds, which last year was 30s per child

per week, is to be raised to £1 19s 3d. The Otaki camp had a trained nurse as matron and the first function of the camp was the health of the children. There were three teachers and a normal school day was maintained with the exception of one hour's rest for every child immediately after lunch. The health stamp ' campaign will be launched on October 1, and it has been decided by the Dominion publicity panel to set the annual objective at £100,000. To obtain the objective set, it has been decided that the most equitable way of spreading the effort is to set a quota at approximately 3s 9d for each household. Levin's quota is thus £266 7s 3d.