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The four Care Committees in Hornsey accomplish a great
deal of useful work and play an indispensable part in the scheme
of medical treatment. During the year they assisted parents
in 62 cases to obtain spectacles prescribed by the School Oculist,
in 3 cases to obtain surgical boots, in 18 cases to obtain a summer
holiday for the children, and in many cases to obtain milk free
or at reduced cost for debilitated children. In addition, the
Committees provide boots and clothing for children in very poor
circumstances.
The Central Care Committee has appointed a small SubCommittee
to collect funds and to co-ordinate the efforts of the
District Care Committees and the schools in the work of providing
holidays for necessitous children suffering from anaemia
and other similar conditions. As a result of a special appeal a
considerable sum was collected during the year, and 56 children
were sent away for a stay of at least two weeks at the seaside.
In certain cases recommended by the School Medical Officer
the period of holiday was considerably extended, and in every
case the parents were required to make a contribution, however
small, towards the expenses incurred. The Sub-Committee
also made a donation towards the cost of sending the boys from
the Kitchener Home to a holiday camp, and the girls from the
St. Catherine's Home for a holiday at the seaside.
The voluntary workers give much of their time to the carrying
out of this work, and their co-operation has been of great
value.
BLIND, DEAF, DEFECTIVE AND EPILEPTIC CHILDREN.
All defective children coming under the notice of the Head
Teachers, Attendance Officers and other officials are referred for
examination to the School Medical Officer. Those children, incapable
of being educated in ordinary schools but capable of
deriving benefit from instruction in special schools, are sent to
suitable institutions. Thus 7 children have attended a special
class for the partially blind, 7 a class for the deaf, 17 the Joint
Special School for feeble-minded children and 2 a certified school
for epileptics. Mentally defective children incapable of deriving
benefit from education in the Joint Special School are referred
to the Middlesex Covinty Council, the Local Authority under the
Mental Deficiency Act.