CARE OF CRIPPLED CHILDREN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 95, 8 May 1937, Page 8

CARE OF CRIPPLED CHILDREN

Activities of Hawke's Bay Society. PLEA TO ROTARIANS A plea for mere interest m Hastingjs in the work of the Hawke's Bay Chippled Children's Society, was made by Rotarian M. R. Grant, of Napier, a meinber of the eXecutive of the society, at ihe weekly luncheon of tho Hastings Rotary dub yesterday. Mr Grant began by ©xplaining the working of the society, which covered a district containing three hospitals. This area was divided into four centres with • sub-commdttees — Wairoa, Napier, Hastings and Waipukurau. The first step when the society was founded about two years ago had been to mahe a survey of the whole district, obtaining the names and full particulars of all the crippled children within the area- This had been done "partly through the Education Board. The records showed a total of over 80 crippled childx*en in the four districts, which seemed rather small for such a big district. Because of this a check survey was now being made to ascertain i£ any names had been missedHe asked parents of crippled children to notify the committee if their names were not already on the books. School teachers and women' s institutes were also being cireularised-. As-soon as a child was placed on the records medical reports were obtained from the doctor who had attnnded the particular case, and he was asked to make recommendatioiis for the methods of treatment. When an Up-to-date report was not obtainable the cases were examined at clinics established for the purpose in Hastings and Napier. It was essential that the right treatment be given, no matter what it cost. The expenses were eplit into three parts and shared by the parents, hospital board and the society, except in cases where the parent was unabl« to cbntribute. *A cure was the first consideration, if this were possible, followed hy specialised education along lines which would enable the child to earn a living in spite of his or her deformity. The majority of . cases dealt with in Napier had been found to be incurable. Every individual case required considerable personal eupervision. Rotary was behind the movement, but he stated frankly that he felt the Hastings committee had failed to fulfil all its requiremehts.4 The committee, as set up by the Rotary Club, had become a committee of one man, Rotarian A. E. O'Meara, who had dono an enorxriious amount of good work, but it was impossible for one man to deal with such a big task singe-hand-ed. Several members of the dub spoke indicating their interest in the progjress. of the Crippled Children's Society. It was explained that. the members who had been on the original committee had found considerable diifliculty in 'attending because they had so' many claims on their time. After the discussion it was deeided to set up another coimmittee, selecting men who would be.in a. position to give; the necessary time ,to the tasks involved. • Mr Grant pointed out .the great amount of work which was occupied by vi'sits to and from parents. It was personal interest that counted most with. the children. The clinio in Hastings- had last week recommended that four Hastings children be sent to hospitaL in Wellington. The 18 infantile paralysis cases in .the Napier Hospital had been visited. Five of these had since been discharged as cured, but 13 still remained in hospital. There was a surprisihg divergence of ' opinion ofi the subject among medical men, but it was said that there could be no cure once a case was diagnosed as positive. The whole 18 cases had been placed on the society 's books, for even the five said to be cured had to be watched for later developments. One doctor had said that once a child was cured it was safe for alL time, but the epeaker knew of a child who had been infected. at the age of ' seven or eight years, but had not developed any trouble until about five years later. The society this year had a great deal of money on hand, thanks to the recent gift from Lord Nuffield, the speaker concludecf/ and it was his desire to see every penny of this expended during: the year in curing the children,