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27
MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL.
955 patients were admitted to the Municipal Hospital in 1929, as compared with 1,037, 767,
846, 601 and 626 in the five preceding years. Of the total of 955 admitted, 454 were cases of scarlet
fever and 347 cases of diphtheria.
During the year 231 cases were admitted to the Willesden Smallpox Hospital at Kingsbury.
Of this number 185 were cases sent there by the Metropolitan Asylums Board, while 46 were Willesden
cases.
The report of the medical superintendent of the Hospital appears in full in the body of the
report.
HEALTH EDUCATION.
The circular of the Ministry of Health relating to the Annual Reports of Medical Officers of
Health requires that the report should include a reference to this subject.
Sir George Newman has stated that the most important health education work is the effective
discharge by the local authority of its statutory duties in respect of health and there is no doubt that
practical demonstrations are of much greater value to the public generally than lectures or exhortations.
The medical and dental staff habitually carry out Health Education work in the Centres and
at the school medical and dental inspections amongst the parents and children who attend. The
Health Visitors and Home Nurse carry Health Education right into the homes. The Cleansing Nurses
educate the mothers who bring their children to be cleansed, instructing them practically so that
they may know how to take proper care of the children in future.
The work of the Schools for Mothers which has been previously referred to is an important
piece of Health Education. The booklet on "The Care of the Mother and the Child" sent to every
birth notified in Willesden and the leaflets left at the homes where cases of infectious disease have
occurred all contribute to health education. The clinic established for Schick testing and immunisation
against Diphtheria is another means whereby the public is taught something of the modern methods
of disease prevention.
Relays of health posters are displayed at the Centres and in the schools. Many productions
of the Health and Cleanliness Council, such as their annual calendar, painting books, pocket mirrors,
leaflets and booklets are given out at the Centres. The Handbook of Suggestions on Health Education
issued by the Board of Education in 1928 has been sent to all the Public Elementary School teachers
in Willesden as also the Health and Cleanliness Council's Textbook for Teachers. Several of the
Secondary Schools have much appreciated the Health and Cleanliness Council's two recent booklets,
"Keep Fit" for boys and "Health and Beauty" for girls.
Each month copies of "Better Health," the official journal of the Central Council for Health
Education are distributed from the Municipal Centres, supplied to churches, private practitioners,
the press, all members of the Council and Education Committee, Board of Guardians, School Managers,
Head Teachers, Voluntary Infant Welfare Centres and others specially interested in health work.
So sought after has this publication now become that the Council have increased the monthly
distribution from 2,000 to 3,000.
Your obedient Servant,
GEORGE F. BUCHAN
Medical Officer of Health