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8
I may be permitted here to give an outline of the
word done by the school nurses. We have two trained
nurses at work. Each morning they are in attendance
at the School Clinic, engaged in either the Minor Ailments
Department or the Dental Department, as the
occasion may be. At the Minor Ailments they dress and
attend to skin conditions and sores upon the children,
wash and apply remedies to eye conditions, and syringe
discharging ears, and treat other minor ailments, under
the direct supervision of the Assistant School Medical
Officer.
On the morning and afternoon of the Dentist's
visits, one is present with the child in the Dentist's
room, whilst the other is looking after the general welfare
and comfort of the little patient after extraction.
They are similarly occupied in rendering services to the
children and the Ophthalmic Surgeon on the occasion of
his visit once a fortnight. During the afternoons not
engaged at the Clinic on these duties they visit the
schools for the purpose of examining the children for
cleanliness. Each nurse has her own set of schools to
attend to, and they have visited each department at least
four times in the school year, making 336 visits in all,
and examining every child for cleanliness of person and
clothing.
By this constant attention we have succeeded in reducing
the number of verminous cases to a considerable
extent. 105 children were excluded during the year, and
after cleansing, returned to school in an average of 5
days. The great majority of these cases are what we
term "old offenders," appearing time after time with
unblushing regularity. No sooner are they clean, than
through sheer neglect, they return to the same old condition
of uncleanliness. The nurses examined 9,684
girls, and 7,407 boys, making a total of 17,091 children
for the year.
Every child under treatment, and excluded from
school for some minor ailment, is told to return to the
Clinic for further treatment, upon a certain day, until
he or she has recovered, and is fit to return to school.