MEDICAL INSPECTION IN SCHOOLS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 19 November 1912, Page 6

MEDICAL INSPECTION IN SCHOOLS.

Til 10 \T\V SOUTH WALES EX-

PERIENCE

-The appointment tlireo months ;::j.o of half a doz'-'-n .school nurses ha-, resulted to tho great satisfaction of the New South Wales Minister t\.v Education (Mr Carmichnol) and ; s interesting to New Zealand in.vi='w ci" recent appointments.

' "The parents." said Mr Oariuichaol, to a "Sun" reporter, "received the nurses very kindly, and more than 'that, .the parents come forward themselves to ask advice, which the majority of them adopt. The trouble is that when tho children nvv. taken to tho doctors, on the advice of tho school nurse, the doctors are not keen to see the children, and frequently jthoafc tho matter with indifl'erence. "Tho Government doctors inspect all delicate children in the schools, and a notice is. sent to the parents informing Uieni that the child is suffering from a certain trouble, and surest in if that the family doctor be consulted or the cliiltl taken to the hospital. Then the nurses attend the the school, and find out in how many cases tbfi notice, has resulted in the action with the parents. Those parents .are then.visited by the nurses. The school doctors sometimes notice in the children ailments requiring immediate attention, and in such, cases the nurses go to the parents without delay. As. an instance, appendicitis has been diagonised in the- early stage. "One of the most encouraging features of the scheme so far as it has been worked is that, the parents are anxious to receive instruction from the nurses. The teachers have arranged mothers' meetings, whore the parents attend in considerable numbers, and gain a good deal of advantage from the discussions. That is an easy way also of meeting parents whoso attention has been directed to the child's ailment.

"Auotbor oll'ert of the scheme, was to release Or Ha Hoy from giving instruction to the elder girls in the ■schools, this work having been handed over to a nurse, who has performed it admirably. Or Ha Hey now attends to the instruction of all the teachers .in the training college, and finds her time fully occupied. The nurse whr: has taken over the schools is able to cover more ground than T)r H'alley cou'd in that part of her time allotter to tho work. "Instruction is being given to the elder girls in about twenty •schools once a week in a series of lectures specially suitable to girls leaving school, and .probably going to work. The subjects include the care of infants, homo hygiene, and so on. Tho girls take a keen interest in the tortures, and I think that the scheme marks a very useful and practical advance."