DENTAL CARAVANS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1001, 18 June 1930, Page 1

DENTAL CARAVANS

VALUE IN COUNTRY “NOT IMPRESSED” “It seems to me that the Health Department has missed the point either wilfully or unconsciously,” declared Mr. J. Boddie at a meeting o£ the Auckland Education Board this morning, when the views of tlie Department regarding travelling dental caravans for back-block schools was received. ‘‘The results of the caravan system cannot be compared with those achieved by the stationary dental clinic,” stated a letter from the Hon. A. J. Stallworthy, Minister of Health. “That the clinic system is now reaching into the country and is proving much more effective than the travelling caravan has been proved through past experience.”

Mr. R. Hoe pointed out that the caravan system was not intended to take the place of the clinic, but to aid it by reaching those not at present within an area served by a trained nurse.

This would be the only satisfactory method of treating most of the children north of Auckland, according to Mrs. V. Donaldson. There is a clinic in Whangarei, but this can serve only a small area. A travelling nurse would be able to attend to the needs of those in the smaller schools, who would otherwise not be served for at least five years. FOR COUNTRY CHILD

In moving that the case for the caravan be restated to the Health Department, Mr. H. S. W. King said that the original idea was to reach those unable to go to the towns for dental treatment, and it was the country child for whose benefit the clinic system had been inaugurated. “The Government is stressing the need for men to go on the land, yet it expects them to take their children to places where there are few facilities for education and none for medical and dental treatment,” said Mr. A. Burns, chairman. Back-block settlers could not spare the time to take children to the towns. Otago had come to the same decision as had the Auckland Board; and the caravan system had proved a success in Queensland. The dental caravan tested some years ago in the Auckland district had been unsuitable for the roads and was not a success, but this was no reason for condemning caravans as a whole. Perhaps a light car would be more suitable and should be tried. The board’s views are to be stated again to the department.