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104
pointed whose duty it is to inspect all children at
the schools who are reported by the District School
Nurses to be in a verminous condition, to send their
names and addresses to the Medical Officer of Health.
to convey them where necessary to the Cleansing
Station, and inspect them after the cleansing.
In order to meet the requirements of the London County
Council Cleansing Scheme, the Borough Council
appointed a woman attendant for the Cleansing
Station; it is one of my duties to supervise her
work and the appliances used. It is the attendants
duty to bath the children, assist in their dressing
and undressing, to cut off the hair when the head is
verminous or when the scalp is in an unhealthy condition
to see that the children's clothing is given to
the disinfecting officer for disinfection, and all articles
returned to them. Every child is thoroughly
cleansed, and where possible the bedding is disinfected
on the same day.
Every endeavour is made to cause as little friction as
possible with the parents, but as may be imagined
the inspector is not always a welcome visitor,
especially as the School Authority's notice has
invariably been served on the parents prior to
my visit. A good deal of patience has to be exercised
sometimes before the mothers can be induced
to talk in anything approaching a reasonable frame
of mind. One can quite understand this attitude in
some instances; the poor women lead drab, monotonous
lives, struggling with big families against
heavy odds, with very few facilities for cleansing
purposes, old and worn-out bedding and furniture,
the discouragement of houses or rooms which are