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HEALTH EDUCATION
The teaching of physical, emotional and social health is the health visitors' main
job and about two-thirds of that teaching must be done individually - largely in the
home, as post people in familiar surroundings are able to discuss their problems more
easily, but often it is of help for a person to realise that other people too have
similar difficulties. The health visitors organise group discussions in the Health
Clinics and at one clinic there is a very active Mother's Club which has a varied
programme of activities. Some of the most successful meetings have been those held
jointly with the Nursery School Association. The mothers enjoy meeting the teachers
and health visitors, and perhaps the greatest benefit of these meetings was the realisation
by the parents that all had a common aim in helping the children to grow up and
become useful citizens.
The health visitors work in close co-operation with the teaching staff in the
local schools. The teachers not only approach us for help if a child needs physical
care but are also aware of the contribution that a satisfactory home life makes to the
child's physical and emotional development.
Group discussions are held in all secondary modern schools - the syllabus is
flexible to meet the particular needs of the groups and includes citizenship, problems
of adolescence, community and public health services.
There is still a long way to go before it will be possible to provide a fully
integrated service but the above innovations in addition to the more usual services
provided at the Health Clinics are an essential step towards this objective. It is
becoming increasingly apparent that final success is essentially based upon our closest
possible co-operation with general practitioners, hospitals, psychiatric and other
social workers, statutory and voluntary associations.
HEALTH VISITORS
During the year the Health Visitors made 18,220 visits to homes:-
(a) To expectant mothers:-
First visits 341
Subsequent visits 670
(b) To children under 1 year of age:-
First visits 1327
Subsequent visits 4929
(c) To children between the ages of
1 and 2 years 2038
(d) To children between the ages of
2 and 5 years 3720
(e) To the aged (over 65 years of age) 2400
(f) To other cases 2033
(65)