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39
The School has now been equipped throughout with chairs and desks
specially suited to the requirements of Cripple Children. This furniture
has been designed and made in the Committee's own workshops under
the supervision of Mr. Newbury (Work's Superintendent to the Education
Committee) and has been found to suit all requirements exceedingly
well. A couch for massage has been provided from one of the Committee's
Clinics.
The full-time services of a nurse were made available for the School
on 23rd June, 1925, and her services have proved invaluable in adding
to the comfort and well-being of the children. Besides attending to
their bodily needs the nurse performs massage, practises remedial exercises,
supervises and adjusts instruments, and at frequent intervals
accompanies the children to the various hospitals. These visits to the
hospital have proved of great value. The nurse is present when the
patients are examined by the surgeons and receives verbal instructions
regarding treatment, such as rest, massage, remedial exercises, and the
wearing of instruments. Since the nurse commenced her duties she has
administered massage to eight children and has instructed five children
in remedial exercises, and in every case these forms of treatment have been
followed by improvements in walking and movement. The nurse also
attends at the School Clinics with all children requiring such treatment
as is there available.
Cod Liver Oil and Malt and Parrish's Chemical Food are administered
under medical direction, and every child is provided with a cup of hot
Grade "A" milk during each morning session at a charge of a halfpenny.
At mid-day a hot meal is supplied at a cost of threepence. In necessitous
cases the morning milk and the mid-day meal are provided free of charge.
These meals are cooked at Down Lane Feeding Centre and are transported
to Parkhurst Road School in a closed cart. The serving of the meals is
undertaken by the nurse and a woman assistant, who also sets the table
and washes up.
The transport of the children between their homes and the School is
effected by means of motor ambulances. Taking into consideration the
difficulty of conducting such a school in two classrooms of an ordinary
Elementary School with no separate cloak rooms or lavatory accommodation,
the work accomplished is in every way praiseworthy. The majority
of the children are apt pupils, and, as far as their physical disabilities