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(h) Civic Week.
A feature of the Health Education Programme during 1947 was
the part which the Public Health Department played in Civic Week,
held during September. A very successful Health Exhibit was
staged, comprising sections of Maternity and Child Welfare (including
vitamin therapy), immunisation against diphtheria and
pertussis, food hygiene, insect pests, mass X-ray, rodent control,
housing defects, health education and Queens Nursing. It is estimated
that the exhibit was visited by between 15,000 and 20,000
persons. The Public Health Department's effort also included the
arranging of three film shows daily during Civic Week, an extended
visit from the Middlesex County Council Mass X-ray Unit, during
which 1,991 persons attended for X-ray, and the visits to Maternity
and Child Welfare Centres and Day Nurseries.
It may be too soon yet to consider repeating such a feature, but
the success obtained during 1947 encourages the belief that a similar
scheme should be considered in the relatively near future on the
same or on a modified scale.
(i) Food Hygiene.
As noted elsewhere in this report, arrangements have been made
to extend the scope of our work by holding a meeting of canteen
supervisors and workers and cafe proprietors and their staffs, at
which the important question of food hygiene will be discussed.
It is hoped that this meeting will be followed by other meetings of a
similar character. The meeting will form part of a larger scheme to
encourage a more comprehensive knowledge of food hygiene among
food handlers. All our Sanitary Inspectors, together with seven
canteen supervisors and workers, have attended short courses on
food hygiene in order that they may be in a position to pass on the
information gained to those who require enlightenment.
Southgate has every reason to be proud of the part which the
Borough has played in health education during the past decade.
There can be little if any doubt that the efforts have been effective
in the fight against ill-health and disease, and that the results will
continue to be felt for many years to come.
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