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129
The comparatively low percentage of children who were
found, at routine medical inspection, to require treatment is some
criterion of the popularity and efficiency of the School Clinics and
of the vigilance and care exercised by parents, teachers, nurses,
and attendance officers. Reference to Table II. will provide additional
evidence of this fact, since the routine examination of 5,141
children revealed only 832 defects requiring treatment, whereas
there were 3,273 conditions referred for treatment in the case of
special examinations carried out at the School Clinics.
This position is satisfactory in that the health of the scholars
is well maintained. The average school attendance of 88.5% for
the year 1936 is further proof of the standard of health of East
Ham scholars.
There is no doubt that the activity of the School Medical
Service has brought about a remarkable change in the general
health, physique, vitality and personal hygiene of the scholars :
the delicate, dull or malnourished child, so commonly encountered
at its inception, has given place to the more robust, alert, clean
and athletic type met with in our schools to-day. Similarly one
seldom meets with that gross lack of interest or desire to seek
treatment for conditions which are perfectly obvious to the
parents, and it is gratifying to think that the suffering, and even
fatality, consequent upon the neglect of defects, trivial perhaps
at first, is now of very rare occurrence.
(a) Uncleanliness.
The School Nurses have carried out three cleanliness surveys
of all children in the elementary schools during the year 1936.
During the year the School Nurses made 44,145 examinations,
as compared with 45,356 in 1935. Of this number 157 children
showed vermin and many nits in the hair (140 in 1935), whilst
1,354 children showed only a few nits (1,854 in 1935).