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112
It would appear the whole problem of nutrition is largely linked up with
dynamic forces rooted in the ante-natal life and the life of the newly born. When
once the chance of these dynamic forces has been missed all other attempts to vary
nutrition are bound to be difficult and are likely to be, at the most, incompletely
successful. Nor must we look for success from direct frontal attacks ; to achieve
success it would be necessary to alter many ingrained habits. Already you have
made a start in getting grown-up children to believe that milk is no longer infants'
food. This beginning must be extended—eggs and butter might very well, even at
a price, find their way much more commonly than at present in the free meals you
provide. Not only is it a means of making these meals better in themselves but as
a means of educating children to like dairy produce, and to come to regard it as a
part of their everyday life. So also with fruit and vegetables. Here, however, I
come up against problems of transport and distribution of which I am not qualified
to speak, but the 2½d. per day which is said to be the average amount spent on fruit
in the poorer houses now should be materially increased. When I say materially
increased I am not thinking in terms of merely doubling it. After the food has been
purchased, and when it has been properly cooked, even after proper mastication
there still remains the problem of digestion, and it is quite open to doubt as to if and
whether we can expect the best when your school-children have to snatch a meal in
between two strenuous courses of study during the day.
(b) Uncleanliness.—So far as uncleanliness is concerned it has, hitherto, been
your policy that the right place for this to be treated is the home, and where it is
found practicable uncleanliness is dealt with in this way. As I have pointed out
in previous years, however, in obstinate and difficult cases the cleansing of heads
is undertaken by School Nurses at your Clinics. It is also undertaken by them
in cases where, owing to illness, the home circumstances make it impracticable
for the parents to carry out the necessary cleansing.
(c) Minor Ailments and Diseases of the Skin.—Your arrangements for the
treatment of minor ailments and diseases of the skin remain essentially the same
as last year. These cases are dealt with every morning at the Central Clinic but
whereas they were also dealt with at the Greig Hall, Stamford Road, this latter
work was transferred on the 12th October, 1935, to the new Woodward Clinic,
Woodward Road.
This new Clinic, together with a Branch Library, has been erected on a site
of about a quarter of an acre at the corner of Stamford and Woodward Roads.
The whole of the accommodation is provided on the ground floor.
By the courtesy of the Architects, Messrs. H. H. Dawson and H. W. Allardyce,
a sketch plan of the Clinic will be found on page 113.