View report page

Appendix 1
HEALTH EDUCATION
Our programme of health education during 1952 followed
very closely along the lines set out in detail in previous Reports.
Forty-four health talks, with or without health films, were given
during the year to local organisations. Although the numbers
attending these meetings are sometimes not very large, and
although the audiences are very often composed of individuals who
almost certainly require education less than many other members
of the public, I still feel that our action is justified. No-one knows
where a fruitful seed may be sown, or what the results may be.
For those reasons, I propose to accept any offer which we receive
to give a talk and/or a film show, and to encourage local organisations
to make use of the facilities available.
During the coming year, it is proposed to have the film
projector completely overhauled. Bearing in mind the fact that
this apparatus has been in use since before the war, it is hoped
that when the overhaul has been completed, the projector will give
improved service.
As in previous years, health education in Southgate is carried
out both by the Borough Council and the County Council. This
is one of the obvious public health measures which benefit by
joint control. It will scarcely be necessary to point out that, apart
from our talks, together with the issue of leaflets and our monthly
edition of "Better Health," we depend to a very large extent on
personal advice issued throughout the year, particularly by Health
Visitors and Sanitary Inspectors. I am happy to think that the
staffs concerned are keenly alive to their responsibilities, that they
miss no opportunity to pass on fundamental knowledge in a way
which can be fully understood by the recipients.
Finally, I would be failing in my duty if I did not once again
pay tribute to the editors of our two local newspapers for their
unfailing help and courtesy. This help has never been refused, and
forms a most valuable adjunct to the other measures of health
education carried on during the year. I should also say that the
editors and their staffs are most helpful in the manner in which
health items of current interest are featured in their columns. Any
suggestion of panic or foreboding is strictly taboo. This can be
quite an important point, which one cannot afford to neglect.
Fortunately, as I have already stated, it is a problem which has
never arisen in Southgate.
40