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must be educated. Every opportunity has been taken to talk
to such groups, but there is a great deal more to be done. The
whole question of the training of Youth Leaders is one of increasing
importance; there is a very urgent need for recruiting
more people to undertake these vitally important and onerous
tasks and giving them a background training in health and
social matters. It was very gratifying to see the enthusiasm
of the large group of Scoutmasters, Girl Guide, Brownie and
Wolf Cub Leaders when they were addressed by Officers of the
Public Health Department on such topics as good habit formation,
cigarette smoking, health consciousness and the responsibility
of the individual to the community.
Whilst films, film strips and flannelgraphs are valuable,
the group discussion is of particular importance. The long
lecture is outmoded and our policy now is to substitute a short
address with visual aids followed by group discussion.
Exhibitions
Health exhibitions, whilst no doubt of considerable interest
to those who visit them, are necessarily of short duration and are
expensive to establish. It is frequently difficult, too, to find a
suitable and conveniently situated building in which to hold
them. One wonders, also, whether the large static exhibition is
visited in sufficient numbers by those for whom it is intended,
or whether it only "preaches to the converted." Small portable
single-topic exhibits which can be taken from place to place
and shown for short periods in various parts of the area are
probably more effective. They have the added advantage that
they can be stored more easily for future use. Such exhibits
have been made use of by the Public Health Department for
displays in the Town Hall, Public Libraries and, by arrangement
with the London County Council Divisional Office, at certain
Welfare Centres in the Borough.
General
Whatever efforts are made in this direction, they will be
most rewarding when they are directed at children and young
people. Finally, those who have personal contact with the
public —public health inspectors, health visitors, social workers
and voluntary and official domiciliary visitors —can have the
greatest impact on the health consciousness of the community.