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17
Health Propaganda.
The main part of the council's programme of health propaganda was conducted by the health
lecturer at the infant welfare institutions. She also lectured at girls' clubs, girl guides meetings,
nursery schools, women's meetings of the Salvation Army, and the Lancaster Road Fathers' Council.
The subjects dealt with during the year were:—
Enteritis—flies; vaccination; model clothes; choosing the right food; preparation
for breast feeding; planning diets for the family; wise marketing; bathing the baby;
hygiene of pregnancy; management of the nervous child; constipation; prevention of
colds and chills; preparation for the newly born baby; nursing in the home; diphtheria
immunisation.
The health lecturer used the film projector purchased by the council in 1935 on 79 occasions.
Films on health subjects were hired or obtained on loan from various organisations, and these
proved both interesting and instructive to the mothers.
A film called "The Empty Bed," which was purchased by the council in 1935, was also shown
periodically at the infant welfare centres, and to audiences at the Argyll Hall, the Town Hall, the
Venture in Portobello Road, and the Quest in Clarendon Road, and to parents' associations of some
of the London county council elementary schools.
In January, 1936, the maternity and child welfare committee appointed a special subcommittee
to consider what steps should be taken to decrease the mortality from infantile diarrhoea
or enteritis, and at their direction a vigorous propaganda campaign was conducted in the summer.
The council purchased a film dealing with the fly nuisance and this was shown at eleven institutions
in the borough; 2,000 posters and 20,000 leaflets on the subject of enteritis were distributed
throughout the borough through the medium of the welfare institutions, the schools and the
council's dustmen; and lantern slides were shown at five cinemas.
In addition to the above propaganda, posters displaying the council's health services were
exhibited throughout the year at the St. Mary Abbots and St. Charles hospitals, the public libraries,
the public baths, and on the frames (which originally belonged to the Empire Marketing Board)
at the barracks in Church Street, and the Fox and Lancaster Road elementary schools.
In 1928 a monthly periodical, published by the Central Council for Health Education, entitled
"Better Health," was issued from the public health department. The object of the publication was
to set before the public information relating to health matters in short and interesting articles written
by experts. A special issue of the paper was printed for Kensington, a section being reserved for
articles of local interest. Two thousand copies of the magazine were distributed each month through
various local channels. The publication did not involve any charge on the council, but it was
discontinued in 1930 as the printers were unable to secure sufficient advertisements to justify free
publication of the journal. The council consider that this publication should be revived, and so
provision has been made in their estimates for the year 1937-1938 for the purchase of two thousand
copies to be distributed monthly throughout the borough.
On her first visit to a home after the birth of a child, the health visitor delivers a small booklet
of about 20 pages entitled "Advice to Mothers," which deals with domestic and personal hygiene
and other matters of importance to the young mother. There is also in the public health
department a series of leaflets on health questions which are distributed by the staff during their
home visits.
A record of the work of the health lecturer will be found on page 37.
Subscriptions by the Borough Council to Voluntary Health Organisations
during 1936.
Subscriptions to Hospitals, etc.
£ s. d.
Cancer Hospital 5 5 0
Central Council for Health Education
10 10 0
Charity Organisation Society 5 0 0
Chelsea Hospital for Women 5 5 0
Invalid Children's Aid Association 40 0 0
Kensal Gospel and Medical
Mission 5 5 0
Kensington District Nursing
Association 5 5 0
£ s. d.
National Hospital for Diseases of
the Heart 5 5 0
Paddington Green Children's
Hospital 5 5 0
Princess Beatrice Hospital 10 10 0
Princess Louise Hospital (Rheumatism
Supervisory Centre) 300 0 0
St. Mary's Hospital 10 10 0
West London Hospital 10 10 0
Western Ophthalmic Hospital 5 5 0