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44
In support of Home Safety Year promoted by the Royal Society for
the Prevention of Accidents, the Health Department at the 1963 Conference
featured "Safety in the Home" as its main feature and eleven of
the 89 talks that were given also dealt with this subject.
Many people do not realise that accidents in the home are the highest
cause of accidental deaths exceeding even those resulting from road
accidents. Approximately 60 per cent of these deaths are due to falls,
mostly to people over 60 years of age, the second highest cause being
poisoning followed by burns and scalds, suffocation and choking.
Of the other 78 talks that were given the subject matters covered the
work of all sections of the Health Department and were given either by
the Health Visitors or by Mr. D. J. Anderton, one of the Public Health
Inspectors.
The audiences represented all sections of the Community ranging
f rom pupils at schools and the staff of local stores to Darby and Joan Clubs.
All Organisations in the district were invited to take advantage of the
facilities available and the response was encouraging for apart from their
health education value they play an important part in the public relations
work of the Local Authority.
In May 1963 a "Smoking and Health" Campaign was arranged in
co-operation with the Education Committee and the Central Council for
Health Education, whose mobile unit spent a week in Harrow. The
Campaign was concentrated mainly on the Grammar and Secondary
Schools and during the week ten sessions were held in the Schools to
selected groups of varying ages totalling 1,500 pupils. The children were
obviously interested in the subject and one was impressed with the
standard of the questions arising from the discussions which always
followed the talks. It is difficult to assess the optimum age at which to
put the facts before young people in order to achieve maximum impact,
but there is evidence to suggest that many children do commence cigarette
smoking at an alarmingly early age.
There were also open sessions for the general public the response to
which can only be described as apathetic. Indeed at one such session on
a Saturday morning in the centre of Harrow not one member of the
public attended.
This only goes to strengthen the views expressed last year that
anti-smoking propaganda should be concentrated on the young person
before the habit is acquired. Adults will have to make up their own minds
as to their course of action, but it is to be hoped that they will help in the
general campaign of discouraging young people from starting the habit.
The importance of health education cannot be placed on too high a
level. It is hoped that in the new borough health establishment a section
will be set up to deal with this important facet of a health department's
work.