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vigorous adolescence. Of all the services provided by the Borough
Council, the Maternity and Child Welfare sphere is probably the
one which, above all, requires to be fostered and encouraged with
unsparing vigilance. More and more has it come to be realised
that Maternity and Child Welfare lays the foundation of a district's
health. If that service be neglected or reduced, the result will
make itself apparent in numerous and highly undesirable directions.
Money spent on Maternity and Child Welfare services is an excellent
insurance policy, the premiums of which are remarkably small
when the ultimate yield comes to be considered. As with all other
forms of insurance, the cover should be adequate and the premiums
never allowed to go by default.
PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.
The arrangements for co-operation between the County School
Medical Service and the Public Health Department remain as outlined
in the Annual Report for 1935. Several visits were paid to
elementary schools following the report of multiple cases of infectious
disease, while immunisation was carried out at two
schools in the district.
As noted in the appendix, several visits were also paid to
elementary and secondary schools for the purpose of giving health
film shows.
In an endeavour to co-operate more closely with the school
medical authorities, arrangements have been made whereby swabs
taken from suspected cases of diphtheria can be examined at our
own laboratory. This enables us to obtain vital information more
quickly than was previously possible, while it provides the County
Council with a more speedy, local bacteriological service.
Arrangements are also being made to pass on information
concerning children who attain the age of five years, to the school
authorities. In this way the work of the Maternity and Child
Welfare Department will be made available at a time when this
information may prove extremely valuable to those in charge of
the children's welfare.
Medical Inspection.—The Middlesex County Medical Officer
is the Chief School Medical Officer for this district, and organises
and supervises the work.
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