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After a short interval, enquiries are made as to the result
produced by these cards.
In those cases where poverty is alleged as the cause of not
obtaining treatment, the following card is sent to the parents:—
Card 4. (Green Card).
Dear Sir or Madam,
" Arrangements have been made for the examination of the
eyesight of your child by the school oculist.
Before the vision can be properly tested, it will be necessary to
put drops or ointment in the eyes. The drops or ointment will
appear to affect their vision, but the effect soon wears away,
and no harm can result.
If you object to the examination, and wish to make other
arrangements, please let me know immediately."
This notice is necessary as accommodation must be paralysed
before errors of refraction can be satisfactorily treated, and
where no outward signs of eye defect are apparent, it is most
difficult to convince relatives that treatment is essential and that
the effect of eyedrops is only temporary.
Inquiries are made by the Attendance Officers into the
circumstances of the parents with reference to their ability to
pay for spectacles.
In spite of the simplicity of this scheme, parents often raise
many difficulties and repeated visits are paid by the School
Nurse, or by the S.M.O. (in obstinate cases) to convince parents
that a squint is not a hereditary necessity and that spectacles
are essential. One curious feature is that the objection to
spectacles is most marked in the poorer parts of the district,
where defective eyesight is certain to lead to unemployment in
a class where the individual must earn his daily bread.