Health Work in the Public SchoolsAyres, Leonard Porter
Science
Health Work in the Public Schools
Ayres, Leonard Porter
Public schools -- Ohio -- Cleveland; Schools -- Medical examinations
Called at two homes to secure treatment for defective teeth.
Advised mother to send children to Marion Dental Clinic.
To sum up the case for the school nurse: She is the teacher of the
parents, the pupils, the teachers, and the family in applied practical
hygiene. Her work prevents loss of time on the part of the pupils and
vastly reduces the number of exclusions for contagious diseases. She
cures minor ailments in the school and clinic and furnishes efficient
aid in emergencies. She gives practical demonstrations in the home of
required treatments, often discovering there the source of the
trouble, which, if undiscovered, would render useless the work of the
medical inspector in the school. The school nurse is the most
efficient possible link between the school and the home. Her work is
immensely important in its direct results and far-reaching in its
indirect influences. Among foreign populations she is a very potent
force for Americanization.
CLEVELAND'S DISPENSARIES
Cleveland has 86 school dispensaries, or what are usually termed
"physicians' offices." These are rooms about 20 feet long by 15
feet wide, located in the basement or on the first floor of the school
building, well lighted, and painted in white or light colors. Usually
they contain one or two small white enamel tables, several chairs, a
wash basin with running water, a white enamel pail for waste
materials, wooden tongue depressors, eye charts, a medical cabinet
filled with instruments and supplies, filing boxes, and printed forms.
In 37 of the elementary schools, shower baths are provided as part of
the equipment of the building.
[Illustration: Cleveland's dispensaries are well equipped.]
Cleveland's dispensaries are of exceptionally high grade. In every
case lighting, ventilation, and equipment are good. Many of the rooms
are large enough for conferences and hygiene talks, and in at least
one school--East Madison--the dispensary is used with desirable
psychological effect for the regular meetings of the Mothers' Club.
The excellence of Cleveland's school dispensaries has contributed in
no small measure to the efficiency of the medical service, and money
spent in this way has been a wise investment. It is probably true that
Cleveland's dispensaries are of better grade than those of any other
large city in the United States.
[Illustration: Columns are proportionate in height to the number of
children given physical examinations each year for five school years.
Portion in black indicates number having physical defects. The figures
above the columns show how many thousands of children were examined
and how many found defective in each year.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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